James of the Hidden Leaf Village Vol 1: Saved
by Fishcake17
Summary: The first installment of the James of the Hidden Leaf Village series
1. Chapter 1: No Sanctuary

**DISCLAIMER: **I don't own Naruto. If I did...well...let's just say things would be different.

**Author's Note: **Well, this is my first fanfic (actually, my first story) that I've ever written. I just wanted to explore new traits I had one night, so I sat down on my computer, pounded out the first five chapters in a few hours and realized that this is really fun to do! So I continued doing it.

This story takes place somewhere in between when Naruto leaves to train with Jirayah (leading into Shipudden), and when Sasuke leaves to Orochimaru. It's kind of in that filler episode area.

Feel free to leave comments and reviews at any time, as long as they are meaningful. If you just bash this story ruthlessly and meaninglessly, I'll probably just delete your review or comment. Constructive criticism is always accepted and appreciated.

This is still a work in progress, so I don't know exactly what's going to happen next. I have a vague idea of the main outline of the story, but my memory stores no details. This stuff is mostly made up off a whim. If you see a plothole that doesn't make sense or something like that, PLEASE tell me so I can correct it!

Yes, this is a self-insertion story. I know, it's not the most creative thing in the world that I could've done, but I was curious to try it and it's a lot of fun, so I don't really care.

Thanks for taking the time to read this, and I hope you enjoy it!

Chapter One: No Sanctuary

I stumbled on my feet and collapsed face first on the grass out of hunger, thirst and pain. I don't remember how long I'd been wandering this forest in search of some sort of civilization, but it felt like forever now. I was exhausted, and I almost forgot about my last relative that I was searching for.

My last relative…he was not even a blood relative of mine. His family and mine were close, and though we were from completely different bloodlines and had no relation to each other whatsoever, almost everyone from both of our families knew people from the other family. No clue as to how the friendship between two clans began, but at this stage of the game, it didn't really matter. All that mattered was that Torenkai was my last hope for any chance of survival…and my odds of finding him before dying of thirst or exhaustion were quickly slipping away from my favor.

I'd set out on this journey with plenty of rations, tools and the sort, and I should've been fine. I would've been fine…if I hadn't let go of my map and let it blow away in the harsh winds. Now the map's gone forever, and I had to rely on my compass and the position of the sun to even have a slight idea of where I was going. Too bad I really didn't know how to use them, since I didn't bother to memorize any of the landmarks on the map other than the ones that would lead me straight to The Land of Volcanoes. That's why I brought the map in the first place. Stupid, stupid, stupid…

It's been a few days since I lost my map, and I knew that there were other villages on the map that I didn't bother to memorize. I hadn't come prepared for this at all, and I was cursing myself for not doing more beforehand.

Now I was lost in some forest that apparently has no water source whatsoever, without any food, water or shelt-

Wait a sec…I thought I heard…holy shit, I'm saved!!! I picked myself up from the ground and ran to the water that I heard rushing somewhere. I eventually came upon a canal, and I immediately crouched down and began to drink out of it, careful not to slip in.

Then I began to think, _where there's irrigated water means that there must be some kind of civilization up ahead!!! _I immediately stood up and followed the canal's flow. Unfortunately, I was too exhausted to go far, and I soon began to lose my footing, leading to me falling flat on my face. I was done. Burnt out, no gas, zero energy left. I just lay there, wondering for a little while whether or not I was going to survive. I tried to pick myself up for a few minutes, but my body did little to cooperate with me. I was literally starving, and I thought that I was going to die out of exhaustion right there on the spot.

I eventually fell there, right on the dirt near the canal, and lost consciousness.

When I woke up, I was nowhere near where I fell asleep at.


	2. Chapter 2: Sanctuary

**DISCLAIMER:**I don't own Naruto...in real life anyways! I still have dreams, though...

Chapter Two: Sanctuary

The first thing that registered in my head when I started to wake up was the sunlight. _Damn it's bright in here! _I squinted until my eyes eventually adjusted. Then I started to take in my surroundings.

I was in a building that was fairly bland. Regular white tiled floor with blue walls, a large window to my right, and a door with a window on it to my left. There was a square cabinet on the floor right beside me which rose perfectly so that it could be used as a table as well. The room itself was somewhat large, but then again I was used to being in small spaces.

I then noticed the bottle of water on top of the cabinet, and I immediately started chugging away. I was more thirsty than I'd ever been, even when I'd hit my lowest points of my "disaster journey", and this much tap water when I'd been drinking out of rivers for the past few days was warmly welcomed. Within seconds the entire bottle was drained empty. I lay back on the bed I was on; I was still sore all over, and it hurt to move anything of my body. It was worth it for the water, but not for anything else. I closed my eyes and smiled for the first time in a long, long time. I was in some sort of civilized community for once, and I didn't care about _where _I was, I just was glad to be in some sort of safe place. At least it felt safe to me; it had that "aura".

"Finally awake?" called an unfamiliar voice. I opened my eyes to see a very odd-looking figure standing a few feet away, with long, spiky silver that was gelled to the side, giving the hairdo a weird sideways porcupine-ish look. He wore a headband that covered his left eye and had an insignia that I didn't recognize carved in the metal front of the headband, and his face from the nose down was covered in a black mask. He was somewhat tall, and had a good build. He wore some kind of military vest with many pockets, and a black shirt and pants. The shoulder of his shirt had an odd red swirly patch on it. He had gloves on that covered only from palm to wrist, leaving his fingers exposed. He had a bandage on his right leg for some reason, and he carried a vanilla-colored pack on his hip. He was holding an open orange book with one hand, and judging by the cover entitled "Make-Out Paradise", I guessed that the book was probably a suggestive one, and cheesy at that.

He was leaning on the wall in front of me as if he'd been there for a while, though I never noticed him before. I was sure he wasn't there just a few minutes ago.

"Where did you come from?" I asked the masked figure. It kind of hurt even to talk, but I could deal with it. It wasn't that bad.

"Why, through the window of course! How else would I be able to come in without you noticing?" he asked

"Point taken." I replied "So, who are you, and where am I?"

He stood up from the wall he was leaning on and replied, "My name is Kakashi Hatake: Jonin of the Hidden Leaf Village: Konoha. You are in the Konoha Hospital right now. Sorry I didn't introduce myself earlier."


	3. Chapter 3: Initial Confusion

**DISCLAIMER: **I don't own Naruto. I'd be too lazy to run something that big; too troublesome. And no, I'm not Shikamaru either!

Chapter Three: Initial Confusion

So many questions were running through my mind. I'd never even heard of this "Konoha" or "The Hidden Leaf Village", and I had no idea what a "Jonin" was. And this guy…with his crazy hairdo and mask. WHERE THE HELL WAS I!?!?!?!? I didn't remember any "Hidden Leaf Village" on my map. I was more confused than I'd ever been before. I thought I was dead! I'd fallen on the ground, exhausted. I thought I was dead? _Am I dead??? _

So I asked, "Kakashi, right? Am I in heaven or something?"

Kakashi looked at me for a few seconds, and then he chuckled and said, "No, you're not in heaven. I said before, you are in Konoha: The Village Hidden in the Leaves. Don't tell me you've never heard of it before?"

So I wasn't dead. I didn't think I was, but I wanted to make sure. "Ummm…sorry, never heard of it." I replied.

Kakashi looked at me like I was crazy to not know what Konoha was. "I guess you're not from around these parts," he said, "Let's start with your name, alright?"

"Fine by me," I replied, "My name's Ja-"

Just then someone knocked on the door. I could see through the window that it was a pink-haired girl. Kakashi cheerfully said, "Come on in, Sakura. He's awake."

As she opened the door and walked in, I asked Kakashi, "Since I'm the patient here, aren't I the one to say if it's alright for someone to come in?"

"I guess I figured that you wouldn't mind." Kakashi replied.

"True enough," I said. Then I said to the pink-haired girl, "So your name's Sakura?"

"Yes, that's right," she replied, "and I would very much like to know yours, not to mention why you were almost dead half a kilometer outside of Konoha! I had to drag you here all by myself until Rock Lee noticed and helped out, and I'm sure if Naruto were here that he would've helped too. By then I was already in Konoha, and didn't exactly need the help, but whatever. What's so funny?" she asked while I was stifling a laugh with difficulty.

"What the hell kind of person names their kid 'Rock Lee'? I don't mean to offend you or anything, but that's one of the weirdest names I've ever heard of!" I allowed myself to laugh a little.

Sakura smiled a bit, and Kakashi replied, "If you think his name's weird, just wait 'till you see the guy himself!"

"Okaaay…" I said, "Anyways, I was going to introduce myself. My name is James Moretto, of the Moretto clan in The Village Hidden in the Sparks. It's in the Land of Electricity."

Both Sakura and Kakashi looked puzzled. (Kakashi may have had a mask on, but somehow I could tell his expression anyways. Call it what you will, but I think he's just easy to read). Kakashi said, "I don't think I've ever heard of the Land of Electricity. Maybe we'll get a map or something and see where it is. In fact, I think I happen to have a map with me right now." Kakashi pulled a scroll out of one of his pockets and gave it to me. I opened it up, and the scroll revealed a map of Konoha and the countries surrounding it. I looked for the Land of Electricity, but it was nowhere to be found on the map.

"It's just as I thought; The Land of Electricity is not here. But," I said, "There is the Land of Lightning, which is our neighboring land. The Land of Electricity is just north of The Land of Lightning, which is off the map you've given me. Actually, The Land of Lightning spawned out of The Land of Electricity. See how The Land of Lightning ends at the very top of the map?" I pointed it out to Sakura and Kakashi. "That's where The Land of Electricity begins. Wow, I hadn't realized just how far I've traveled from my homeland…" I marveled at the huge distance I'd traveled throughout my lifetime. I knew I'd gone far, but I didn't know just HOW far! "By the way, thanks for bringing me here Sakura. If you hadn't found me…I might not be here," I said to her, "In a way, you very well might have saved my life."

Sakura smiled and said, "Not a problem! I am training to be a medical ninja after all. I figured helping you recover could be part of my training!"

I smiled back and said, "Glad I could help! Whatever a medical _ninja _is, I'm sure you'll be a great one!" Sakura and Kakashi both gave me weird looks. "What, what did I say?"

"Ummm, you don't know what a medical ninja is?" asked Sakura.

"Nope. No idea." I replied

"Do you know what a Ninja is at all?"

"No, not really."

"What about Chakra?"

"Sorry, never heard of it."

"Jutsu? Kunai? Shuriken?"

"…are you speaking a different language?" I asked Sakura.

Sakura slapped her palm on her forehead. "You don't know anything about Ninja at all, do you?" she asked.

"Well, judging by the fact that all of the things you named off were things I'd never heard of until now, I guess not. Sorry." I said.

"It's nothing to be sorry about; you just don't know, that's all," said Kakashi, "Here; let me show you what a Shuriken is." Kakashi dug into his vanilla-colored pack, and he pulled something out of it. "This is a Shuriken. You throw it at your opponent."

"Ohhh, I know what that is! That's a Throwing Star! Yeah, my village used those a lot! There's practically no difference, except you guys call them Shuriken and I just call them Throwing Stars." I told them.

"Oh, well alright then. Here, I'll show you a Kunai now." Said Kakashi as he dug into his pack again. He pulled out the Kunai and showed it to me. "Recognize this one?" he asked.

I tilted my head as I examined the Kunai. "It looks a lot like the Throwing Daggers my village used, except that there was no hole at the bottom. Other than that, they're pretty much the same thing too!" I said. I started to think that maybe this wasn't so different from The Land of Electricity after all. They just seemed to have different names for what they used. I thought I was starting to catch on. "Let me guess," I said, "A ninja is someone who goes out on missions for a particular client, and is also the military force of the village?"

"Yep, that's pretty much it," said Sakura, "Some ninja are specialists with a certain type of duty. I'm training to become a Medical Ninja, which-"

"-is a ninja with medical skills," I finished, "Yeah, Ninja are basically the same exact thing as Warriors from where I come from. I still don't know what this 'Chakra' is, though. You mind telling me?"

"No problem," said Sakura, "Chakra is basically the energy that flows through you. It-"

"Say no more, I think I know what it is now," I said to Sakura, "Chakra's probably the same thing as Energy Flow in my land. It probably has to do with combining mind and soul, making a hand sign and saying the Special Words to do all sorts of things, right?"

Sakura stood there for a moment, stunned at how fast I caught on to this, then smiled and said, "You've pretty much got it right on the money, and I think that the 'Special Words' that you mentioned are what we call 'Jutsu'."

"So," I started, "Everything here is almost the same as in my home village…except you guys have cooler names for everything!!!"

"That's pretty much how it sounds." Kakashi said.

"So, do you mind telling us why you were almost dead when I found you?" asked Sakura.

I paused for a moment, and then replied, "That's a long story…but if you guys have nothing else to do, then I'll tell it."


	4. Chapter 4: James' Past

**DISCLAIMER:**I don't own Naruto. *in singsong* You can't sue me, you can't sue me!  
**Formal Apology: **Sorry for my rudeness and immaturity on what I said just now.

Chapter Four: James' Past

"If I'm going to tell you why you found me half-dead outside of your village, I'd have to tell you pretty much a good chunk of my life story, if not all of it. But we've got time, as far as I know, and I'll try to make is as short as possible."

"I was born in The Village Hidden in the Sparks, and I was raised there for most of my life. I went through Warrior Training – or in your terms 'Ninja Training'. Actually, I think I'll start saying things how you guys do; it just sounds so much cooler! – Anyways, I went through Ninja Training, and I'd just become a Rookie class. I'd finally gotten out of the Ninja Academy ("You had an Academy there too?" said Sakura, "We have one too!) and was getting ready to go meet my master for the first time. I was at my house, and of course my mother was fussing about every last inch of me. She wanted me in tip-top shape, but I said that it wouldn't matter very much. Of course, being my mother, she didn't listen to me and insisted on helping. Moms…they really do have a hard time letting go, do they? By the way, this was when I was about twelve years old, and I'm fifteen right now. Just turned it a few weeks ago."

"Anyways, I was on my way to the place that my master told me to meet him and the rest of my group. I was about halfway there when I heard a really loud explosion that came from behind me. Another one came from in front of me, and before I knew it explosions were everywhere. I ran and hid from all sight inside a barrel. The barrel had a hole in it, so I could peep out to see what was going on. A whole bunch of people in really weird getups were just blowing the living shit out of everyone they laid their eyes on. It wasn't more than an hour later that I saw them leave. I waited for a long time after they were gone just to make sure. Eventually I got out of the barrel I was hiding in, and looked upon the charred remains of my village. Everything was destroyed, bodies were everywhere…I saw my friends' bodies. Is it something to be ashamed of to admit that I cried at that point, because I did. I cried even harder when I went home to find my parents'…my pare-"

"You don't have to say anymore about it, James, "said Sakura, "We get the picture. Just move on to what you did after you left the village." I felt a lump forming in my throat, and I was extremely relived that Sakura said that when she did.

"Thanks Sakura," I said to her, and then I continued on.

"After that I gathered all of the possessions that I could – which weren't much, only a small map of the Land of Electricity and a part of the Land of Lightning – I headed off south to the Land of Lightning. My Grandmother and Grandfather lived on the northern outskirts of the Land of Lightning in a small cottage, and I hoped that they might be able to help. They invited me to live with them, and I did for another year until both of them passed away of old age. Before then, they told me about a family friend that might be willing to invite me into their family. The friend's name is Torenkai, and Grandpa told me that I could find him in the Land of Volcanoes. He said that it was south of here, and gave me a map of where it could be located. It was just south of the border of the Land of Lightning on the map he gave me. I stocked up on traveling supplies and headed out."

"So I ventured into the great unknown after Grandpa passed away with Grandma. I had to feed off of the land for most of the time in my journey, squeezing myself into tight spots for shelter was a regular thing to do. I just kept traveling and traveling, and a year and a half passed by pretty quick. Recently a very nice old lady invited me into her house for the night, and I gladly accepted. She made really good curry too! Anyways, after that I headed further south, right into a storm. The winds were so severe that they blew my map away, and after that I had no idea where I was going. For somewhere around a week I just wandered around this forest I came across, looking for food or water. None was to be found, which was odd seeing as though it was a forest I was in and not a desert. I started to get desperate, and traveled overnight in search of something, some kind of edible substance, and in the meantime getting no sleep. That came back to bite me in the ass, that's for sure. I eventually found water in a canal, and then I decided to follow the canal's flow. I didn't get far before I fainted out of exhaustion."

"I probably would've died there if a pink-haired girl hadn't come along and found me when she did!" I smiled at Sakura, and I don't think it was possible for her not to smile back, "And you guys pretty much know the rest!" I actually felt really good after getting all of that out of my system.


	5. Chapter 5: Admittance

**DISCLAIMER: **I don't own Naruto. Is it really necessary to say this over and over again in each chapter? Seriously, this is Fanfiction dot net!!! Do you really expect anyone here to own Naruto if it's a freakin' fanfic website!?

Chapter Five: Admittance

The room was pretty much silent for a few seconds until I said, "Well, that's about it for my story."

Kakashi was the first to speak other than me. He said, "Hate to break it to you like this, but The Land of Volcanoes doesn't exist anymore."

I was stunned. Could the same people that destroyed my village have actually destroyed that one too? _No James, don't jump to conclusions. There's got to be an explanation for this._

As if Kakashi were reading my mind, he said, "It wasn't an attack or anything. The very volcano that they built their village on erupted and killed everyone in the process. Why do you think it was called The Land of Volcanoes?"

I then proceeded to ponder how idiotic those people could've been to have built their village on a volcano in the first place.

"That's actually close to being funny. If so many people hadn't gotten killed, it would be. But I can't believe that…" I wandered off.

"That they would be as stupid as to do something like that?" asked Kakashi, "Neither can I sometimes, to be honest!"

"Still," I started, "It kinda sucks that I don't have anywhere to go now. Oh well, I'll just have to make the best of it once I've recovered, which should only be a day or two; I've always recovered fast for as long as I can remember. Doctors never could tell why."

Silence filled the room for a good long moment. Sakura broke the silence by asking, "Kakashi-sensei, could we talk outside for a moment, please? " Apparently my disappointment of her leaving showed, because she then said to me, "Don't you worry, I'll be back in just a minute," and headed out the door with Kakashi behind her.

_I have a lot to think about now. What will I do when I recover? Where will I go? Torenkai was the only hope I really had of ever having a definite home…but now that I know he's dead…What'll I do now? I don't get the feeling that either Sakura or Kakashi are lying; usually I can tell immediately whether people are lying or not. I'm fairly certain they aren't lying. What to do, what to do…Sakura's kinda cute – NO, NO, NO! Don't you go wandering off, you stupid mind! Especially not in THAT region; you're going to recover and probably be kicked out, so don't even THINK about stuff like that! Freakin' moron, how could you let your mind wander off to something like that, James? Seriously, she-_

Right then the door opened up, and Sakura, Kakashi, a woman with black hair carrying what looked like a dressed-up pig, and a rather high-authority-looking blonde woman with a diamond symbol on her forehead came into the room.

The Blonde spoke first with a tone of authority, "You are James Moretto, correct?"

"Yes, I am." I replied simply

The Blonde said, "My name is Tsunade. I am the Fifth Hokage of The Hidden Leaf Village of Konoha. My assistant here with the pig is Shizune. I welcome you to Konoha."

"Fifth Hokage?" I asked.

"That's basically the Fifth leader of the village." Kakashi clarified.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" I said hastily, "I didn't realize you were leader of this village. I know many of the words you use, but only with other words native of my land."

"Don't worry about it," said Tsunade, "I always didn't care much for formalities anyways. Speak to me any way you would feel comfortable with." Suddenly she seemed a little friendlier then before to me.

"Alright, thanks!" I replied, "I don't like formalities myself."

"Good! Then we have something in common," said Tsunade, "Now then, let's get down to business. Kakashi and Sakura have pretty much already told me your story, so you won't have to retell it to me. Kakashi and Sakura tell me that you were heading to the Land of Volcanoes before you found out about what happened in order to find somewhere to live, is that correct?"

"Yes, it is." I said simply

Tsunade continued, "Therefore you don't really have any home to go to. Pretty much the last remnants of your family's connections have been wiped away, and if we kicked you out of here after you recovered, you would be blindly trying to find a home that isn't there. So here's the deal: I'll give you a house here in Konoha and supply you with good food and water…"

This seemed too good to be true. I was getting all of this just like that?! Wow!!!

"…under one condition." Tsunade said. I knew it was too good to be true. Of course there was a catch! DUH!!! Tsunade wouldn't just offer me food, drink and shelter for free! It's probably a harsh condition, too. Still…

"Okay then," I said, "What's the catch?"

Tsunade smiled and said, "The condition is that you have to become a Leaf Village Genin."

"Yo, human dictionary Kakashi! What's a Genin?" I asked Kakashi with a good-humored smile.

Kakashi chuckled, recognizing it as a joke (_Thank goodness he has a sense of humor!_), and replied, "A Genin is the lowest class of Ninja. A Chunin is the second class up, and a Jonin is the elites. Tsunade's asking you to become a Genin ninja In return for the food, water and shelter she provides for you. Question box!" he added to get me back for calling him a human dictionary. Ah well, at least he tried.

"Thanks, Kakashi! You know I only meant that as a joke, right?" I asked, just in case. He nodded, and I then said to Tsunade, "I will gladly accept your terms. From here on, James Moretto is a Leaf Village Genin Ninja! Thank you so much; you don't realize the fire you just pulled me out of!"

"Oh, I think I do realize that," said Tsunade with a smile, "But you know, I pick the house you live in until you can afford one yourself. You aren't exactly going to get a good house."

"Frankly, I don't care!" I said overjoyed, "As long as it keeps the rain off of me when I'm inside, I'm alright with it. You've got to realize that I've been climbing into caves and such for shelter for a long time now!"

"Might as well assign you to Kakashi's group since he's short one person," said Tsunade, "That means you'll be with Sakura and Naruto. Not that it really matters at the moment; we're stretched so thin right now that we're paring people from different teams up to do missions left and right, but nevertheless, Kakashi is your sensei now."

Before I even asked, Kakashi said, "Sensei means master in your terms."

"They really do make everything sound cooler here, don't they Kakashi-sensei?" I said, catching on to how Sakura called him sensei before.

I got the distinct feeling that I was really going to enjoy this new life.


	6. Chapter 6: A Walk Around Town

**DISCLAIMER: **I don't own Naruto. Or Sakura. Or Sasuke (Owning Sasuke is the fangirl's job!) Or anyone else. But I wish I owned Hinata...*drool* Yeah, I know I'm pathetic...oh well...I still have drerams...*continues drooling*

Chapter Six: A Walk Around Town

A couple of days passed, and I was more than satisfied with the life I'd begun. During that time I'd learned a lot from Kakashi-sensei and Tsunade, such as stuff about missions and mission ranks, how ninja were usually put into groups of three (which actually differed from The Land of Electricity, where we were put into groups of five. I was going to learn soon that Warriors and Ninja were much different in terms of how to approach a battle), and other things like that. In a matter of only a couple of days I learned many things there was to know about Ninja.

Today Kakashi-sensei told me that I was to meet by the bridge leading to the exit of the town for a more formal introduction to the group I was with. I already knew Sakura pretty well, but I'd never met this Naruto person. I wondered what he was like…Sakura told me about him a little bit, mostly the way that he gets on her nerves a lot. Other than that, I didn't know anything about Naruto.

I got up from my bed and grabbed myself a bite to eat. The cereal here was so much better than the rations we had to deal with eating every meal of every day in The Land of Electricity. I happily scarfed down the cereal, and then I went to take a shower. After I got out of the shower I took a glance at the clock, which read 8:00.

_Very nice…I don't have to be at the bridge until 10:00. That means I can go do a little exploring around this village; get a lay of the land and stuff. _I grabbed my wristwatch, got dressed and headed out into the village.

It was a nice day for a walk: about 50 degrees Fahrenheit, nice breeze coming through, and mostly cloudy. I took out my map and decided where to go and what to do with my time. There were so many places in this village that I couldn't decide what to do, so after a few seconds I just said "Screw that!" put the map back into my pocket and started to just wander aimlessly around the village.

It seemed like the village was undergoing some major reconstruction; people were walking back and forth bringing loads of large wooden planks, buckets and other carpenter's stuff with them. I didn't think much of it, _just some construction workers doing their jobs. _

At one point my nose picked something up that smelled really good. I decided to follow the scent, and I came across a flower shop. It just smelled so pleasant that I had to go inside.

This flower shop was decked out! There were tons of flowers, all of different sizes, scents and types as far as the shop's walls permitted! I just stayed inside there for a while, enjoying all of the different scents when someone asked me, "Are you going to just stand around for the next half an hour or are you going to buy something?"

I looked across the room to where the voice came from. I was surprised to see an attractive, blonde girl behind a counter. I hadn't noticed her before, but I guessed that it was because I was distracted by all of the different flowers and scents.

"Sorry," I said to the blonde girl, "I'm not from around here, and I was just surprised to see such a huge variety of flowers in one shop." I paused for a little bit, then decided to buy a nice, emerald green flower since I thought it would be rude of me to just walk in without buying anything. I picked out the flower, went to the blonde girl behind the counter and said, "Here, I'll take this one," and I gave her some money for the flower.

She took the money and put it into the register, then said, "Sorry, I didn't realize you were new here. I didn't mean to be rude or anything."

"Nah, it's alright. I was just standing around, anyways. My name's James Moretto." I said to her.

A weird look crossed her face for about a second, but then she was back to normal and said "Mine's Ino Yamanaka. Nice to meet you." She paused to examine the flower I was going to buy, and then said, "And who's this for, hmmm?"

"No one in particular; I don't know many people to give it to yet. I just thought it looked nice, and since it was my favorite color, I thought why not?"

Ino further examined the flower and said, "You've got a good eye for flowers."

I didn't know what to think of that, so I said, "Um, thanks!"

She handed the flower back to me, and I took it. I left with a wave as she called out, "Come back again soon!" I just smiled and nodded, getting the odd feeling that I would be here again soon, and left.

I checked the time, which read 8:34. I'd spent about a half an hour wandering around Konoha and being in the flower shop. _That Ino person seemed really nice! I'll have to come back sometime._ With that thought, I headed off in a random direction I hadn't taken yet and started wandering again. I passed by a large building with a playground inside. _That's got to be the Academy that_ _Sakura was talking about. _

As I was wandering around I spotted a large wooden building that seemed different from the rest of the buildings surrounding it, and it was kind of off to the side. I was debating whether or not to go inside or not when I remembered that I had my map. _The map will probably show me what that building is, because it's no normal building, that's for sure. _I got my map out, unrolled it, and found the building I was looking for. It was listed simply as "Hyuga Clan." _Hyuga? Wonder who those are?_ I decided not to go inside, just in case it was a private residence or something, and continued wandering.

I meandered around the village for the rest of the time, not really doing anything but walking, sight-seeing and killing time. I must've enjoyed walking a lot, because 9:45 came way too fast for my tastes. _Oh, well. Time to go to the bridge._


	7. Chapter 7: First Day

**DISCLAIMER: **I don't own Naruto. But if you find Naruto, tell him to buy me some Ramen, please. I'm getting hungry!

Chapter Seven: First Day

"Why does this always happen? Why is Kakashi-sensei always LATE!!!?" Sakura shouted the word 'late' as she paced back and forth across the bridge we were supposed to meet Kakashi. "And Naruto is late too! What the hell is that all about?!"

Sakura and I had been waiting for the better part of a half an hour now for Kakashi and Naruto, and Sakura was getting really impatient.

"Standing around here won't do any good," I said to Sakura, "and neither will shouting about it."

"Well, maybe shouting about it makes me feel better!" Sakura retorted.

I sighed and said to her, "Well, there's nothing we can do about Kakashi-sensei being late, but one of us can go look for Naruto while the other stays back and keeps waiting. If you want, you can go."

Sakura looked at me for a moment, then devilishly smiled and said, "Oh, just you wait until I get my hands on him. And I think I know exactly where he is, too." I laughed at the sight of her reaction. "What's so funny?" she asked.

"Nothing. I just get a kick out of how people react to things…I know it's weird, but sometimes I find that even the most serious situations have a joke or two hidden inside of them!" I smiled, and then had a thought. "Tell you what, I'll come with you. If Kakashi-sensei happens to come before we get back, I'll leave him this note to tell him where we are." I pulled out a small sticky scroll, looked at Sakura and said, "From what you've told me so far about Naruto, I'm guessing we're heading to Ichiraku's?

"That's the place." She replied. I then wrote on the scroll:

_Kakashi-sensei,_

_Sakura and I are out looking for Naruto. The first place we'll look is Ichiraku's Ramen Shop. In case we don't get back in time, look for us there. _

_James and Sakura_

"That ought to do the trick!" I said cheerfully as I placed the sticky-scroll on a post of the bridge. I looked at Sakura and said, "Since I don't know this village's layout quite yet, you'll have to show me where to go."

"I figured that."Sakura replied. She started to walk off of the bridge and motioned for me to follow, which I did.

My mind started to wander as we walked. _I guess this Naruto character must really like Ramen. Hey, I can't blame him. I remember the time when my friend took me out for some ramen, and it's the best thing I've had to date. I've only had it once; my family was pretty poor, and since Ramen was imported from The Village of Lightning, it was pretty pricy. _I glanced over at Sakura, who turned left down a street. _You know, she's a really nice girl. At least to me, that is; from what she says about Naruto, I don't think I can say the same thing for him. She is really cute, too. NO! No, no, no! Dammit, stop having those kinds of thoughts, James! I barely even know her!_

Little did I know that as I was telling myself to stop thinking about Sakura like that, my face was apparently contorting all different ways, prompting Sakura to ask, "Are you okay, James? You look like you've just eaten something really sour."

With that, I came back to the real world and said, "Ah, it's nothing really."

Sakura looked at me strangely, but then dropped it and said, "Here we are." I was standing in front of a somewhat large building that had "Ichiraku's Ramen Shop" on the front. We went inside, and all of a sudden Sakura started growling or something.

"Sakura, why are you growling like that? That's just we-"

"_NAARUUUTOOOOOOO!!!" _Sakura yelled all of a sudden, cutting me off.

A spiky, blonde-haired boy wearing a funny-looking orange jumpsuit looked up from his ramen bowl, looked up at Sakura and said rather loudly, "Hey, Sakura! How's it going?"

"DON'T YOU 'HOW'S IT GOING' ME, YOU BLONDE FREAK!!!" Sakura yelled at the top of her lungs. She grabbed the spiky-haired blonde by the collar of his jumpsuit and started shaking him furiously, all the while yelling, "HAVE YOU TOTALLY FORGOTTEN!?!?!?!? WE WERE SUPPOSED TO MEET KAKASHI-SENSEI AT THE BRIDGE TODAY AT TEN O' CLOCK! DO YOU KNOW WHAT TIME IT IS!?!?!?"

The spiky-haired blonde looked at his wristwatch and said weakly, "Oh yeah, we were. It's 10:42 right now, but just let me finish my ramen, alri-"

"No way! You're coming with me to the bridge right now!" Sakura put the spiky-haired blonde down and started to pull him by the ear towards the direction of the bridge, with Naruto repeatedly saying "ow-ow-ow-ow-ow."

I looked at the chef of Ichiraku's and said, "I'm guessing that was Naruto, right?"

"Yeah, that was him alright!" the chef said cheerfully, "But he didn't pay for the ramen this time around."

"Well, he didn't have much of a chance, did he?" I said, "I would pay you back, but I don't have enough money." At that instant I looked down at the bowl that Naruto left behind, looked up at the menu and dropped my jaw. "The ramen here's that cheap!?" I almost yelled.

The chef gave me a weird look and said, "That's how it's always been."

"Well then, never mind! I _can _pay it off! I was thinking of the prices back where I came from, but _this _was something I never expected!" I reached into my pocket, grabbed a few coins, gave them to the chef, waved goodbye and caught up to Sakura and Naruto.

When I caught up to the two, they were bickering like crazy.

"Aww, c'mon!" said Naruto, "At least you could've let me finish my ramen!"

"We've already wasted enough time because of you!" Sakura said rather loudly

"Come ON! I didn't even get the chance to pay the chef!"

"I don't care! You're coming this way no matter how much you beg!"

"Don't worry about paying the chef," I told Naruto, "I paid him for you. The ramen here's really cheap, you know that?"

Naruto looked at me like I was a god or something and immediately yelled, "Oh my god, thank you so much!!! You have no idea! The last time I forgot to pay him, he made me do horribly boring, frustrating and tedious chores! Thank you thank you thank youuuuu!!!"

I was dumbfounded for a moment, then smiled and said, "It's no problem!"

"Yeah, you've got no idea how much trouble you saved me from! I would've had to make up an excuse for why I didn't pay and everything!" I chuckled a little, and he said, "What's so funny?"

"Your energy is crazy!" I said to him, "You're one of the most hyperactive people I've ever met. I never said that was a bad thing!" I said to him as he scowled at the hyperactive comment, "In fact, that can be a good thing a lot of the time."

"Not with this one most of the time," said Sakura, "It's usually a bad thing."

"You don't give me enough chances!" said Naruto to Sakura.

"Like hell I don't! You've blown too many chances for me to count!"

"Like when!?"

"Like the time with the lady and the weeds."

"Oh, yeah. Forgot about that. Those weeds were stubborn! I thought if I just used Rasengan that I could rip them out all at once, but I got mud all over you and Sasuke's faces! But that's the only time I've messed up!"

"How about the time after we encountered the water ninja, stabbed yourself and almost died of blood loss? Or just now? Or the time when-"

"Alright, alright! I get it! I screw up sometimes! You don't have to rub it in!"

"Or the time when you-"

"OH MY GOD I CAN'T STAND THIS ANYMORE!!!" I yelled all of a sudden, "WOULD YOU TWO JUST SHUT THE HELL UP?!?!?!?!?" Naruto and Sakura both looked at me in silent shock. I didn't think they knew that I could yell so loud.

"Um…I'm sorry I yelled. It's just that I hate it when comrades fight amongst each other. It shouldn't…I mean…I didn't want it to escalate to a dangerous level. I'm sorry." I was ashamed of myself. _Here I am, trying to make friends when I end up yelling at them? What the fuck were you thinking? Were you even thinking?_

"Ah, I wouldn't worry about it," a voice said, "It's normal for them to do this, and it never escalates that bad." I turned around to find Kakashi standing in front of me. "Oh, and by the way, the note you and Sakura left me was thoughtful, but the fact still remains that you weren't at the bridge when I got there. So, to make up for that, you'll have to…" Kakashi thoughtfully looked at us all for a couple of minutes, and then said, "…you know what? You'll have to do an hour's worth of helping around the town."

Naruto groaned, and Sakura said, "Why do I always pay for your screw-ups, Naruto?" I just looked at Kakashi with no particular emotion coming to the forefront of my mind.

"How's about we get started now, hmm?" Kakashi said as he turned around and started walking. He motioned for us to follow.

Naruto and Sakura groaned and reluctantly followed. I followed as well, thinking to myself. _Well, I guess this is a good opportunity to learn more about the village's ways of life._

"Why am I always paying for Naruto's screw-ups?" Sakura asked me, quietly enough for Naruto not to hear.

"I dunno," I replied just as quiet, "But from now on, at least you've got me to keep you company whenever you pay for his screw-ups. Besides, he seems alright to me. He seems to me that he's just…he's just a good guy that screws up a lot."

Sakura chuckled a little, and said, "While I act like he's my worst enemy, he's actually one of my best friends. We've know each other and been in the same team for a long time now."

Something was gnawing at my curiosity that couldn't be held anymore. "Who's Sasuke?"

Sakura stopped dead in her tracks and looked down. I wasn't sure what to make of that. _Should I've asked that? _She looked back up, and emotion was in her eyes like I'd never seen before. She didn't seem like she was going to cry or anything, but her eyes were flooding with emotion. She definitely lost the cheerful look she had a few seconds ago, instead she looked pretty down. I instinctively wanted to help – to help bear the burden she was carrying – as I also saw pain in her eyes.

"What happened?" I asked.

"Sasuke was…he was a Shinobi from here…a Genin…and he was on our team…and he-"

"If it's Sasuke you want to know about," Naruto suddenly said with an odd but emotional-sounding voice, "then I can tell you about him."

I looked toward Sakura, who still looked emotional, when Kakashi said, "I think it would probably be best if Naruto told the story."

"Alright then…" I said uncertainly. I wasn't quite certain what I'd gotten myself into, but I still felt that instinctive urge to help bear this burden, or at least try, so we continued to walk as Naruto told me about Sasuke.

"A few months ago, The Chunin Exams were taking place in Konoha, where we undergo tests to be promoted to Chunin. During that, a villain named Orochimaru put a curse mark on him. We thought he would be alright, but the curse mark drove him to follow Orochimaru and supposedly gain power from him. Konoha is in shambles right now because of Orochimaru and the Sound Ninja's attack. So now Sasuke is with Orochimaru, gaining who knows what kinds of forbidden Jutsu. There's a lot more to it, but that does it with the quick explanation," Naruto paused and turned to face me, then said, "Someday I'll get Sasuke back and kick Orochimaru's ass! He was a great comrade, and he was like a brother to me. I won't let him be taken from me that easily! But the problem is," Naruto looked down and said, "We can't really do anything about it. We have no leads as to where they are," He suddenly looked cheerful again and said, "So we'll just have to get stronger until we do find a lead! Right Sakura?"

Sakura looked up and determinedly said "Right! That's all we can do right now!"


	8. Chapter 8: Training, Ramen and Memories

**DISCLAIMER: **I don't own Naruto. I own James Moretto. *Darth Vader voice* I AM JAMES MORETTO!

Chapter Eight: Training, Ramen and Memories

We helped around town for an hour cleaning, just like we were told, and then afterwards Kakashi started to train me on how to better use ninja weapons, Jutsu, and stealth in battle. I was alright in throwing kunai, and I hit the bull's-eye once every three times on average. The shuriken was by far the best weapon I could wield out of all of the ninja weapons; I only missed the bull's-eye once with a shuriken. Kakashi trained me for days on the basics, which I pretty much already knew since they were so similar to how Warriors trained. The only thing was that Warriors had a more head-on approach to battle, which I never liked in the first place. I had a talent for sneaking around and not being caught, and I was fast, which made stealth training the easiest out of all. Jutsu training was a whole different story…

In my first Jutsu training session with Kakashi (which Naruto and Sakura were present for) Kakashi told me, "Show me what Jutsu you already know and we'll move on from there."

_Do I even have any Jutsu? Well…Grandpa showed me this one trick a long time ago…I think it was a Jutsu, and I think I remember how to do it. It was really simple – only one hand sign – and it was called…_

I made a hand sign and said, "Light-Show Jutsu!" I looked around, and nothing was happening. _Dammit! I must've gotten the hand sign wrong. _I tried again with a slightly different hand sign. "Light-Show Jutsu!" Nothing happened. I tried again, "Light-Show Jutsu!" I suddenly got blown back a few feet and landed on my butt. _What the hell happened? _I was dazed, and I didn't know what was going on around me until Sakura socked me in the face and said, "You idiot! You just fried my hair!!!"

"Calm down, Sakura!" said Kakashi, "The sign you made there was a Fire Sign, used for Fire-Style Jutsu."

"Oops, sorry Sakura!" I said to the soot-covered Sakura. As soon as I touched the ground with my hand to pick myself up, a shot of pain hit me and I collapsed onto the ground again. "HOLY SHIT THAT HURTS!!!" I looked at my hands, which were burnt up pretty bad. I couldn't touch anything with my hands without hurting myself severely.

As soon as Sakura saw this, she immediately ran over to where I was lying on the ground. I put my arms up in defense, but she said, "I'm not going to hurt you again – sorry for that – I'm going to treat those hands of yours."

_Oh yeah, that's right! Sakura's a medical ninja in training, I forgot!_

Within minutes my hands were as good as new. "Wow! Thanks Sakura!"

"Hey, it's my job!" Sakura replied cheerfully, "You probably shouldn't use your hands for making hand signs, or anything else that requires a lot of strength for a day or two, but after that you should be fine! Kakashi-sensei, I don't think James should try anymore Jutsu for today."

"Agreed," Kakashi replied, "Come to think of it, I've been training you like crazy for the past few days. You should probably take the day off anyways!"

I got up from the ground and said, "Yeah, that's probably a good idea."

"That settles it!" Naruto said. He then asked, "You want to go get some ramen with me, James?"

"Sure, why not! See you guys later!" I waved to Sakura and Kakashi, then ran over to where Naruto was heading.

"Why do I get the feeling that James and Naruto are going to be really good friends?" Sakura asked Kakashi.

"Because they both like ramen," replied Kakashi, "and that's pretty much all there is to making friends with Naruto! If you like ramen, Naruto's bound to get along with you pretty well!"

*

"This could very well be the best thing I've tasted my entire life!" I said somewhat loudly as I finished off my first bowl of ramen. Naruto and I had gone to Ichiraku's Ramen Shop where we found Naruto in the first place. This ramen was like heaven food to me! It was easily the best ramen I'd ever had, and probably the tastiest food I've ever had. This was the good stuff, and it wasn't even all that pricy too!

"I know, right?" replied Naruto as he downed his – _Holy shit is that his seventh bowl!? – Of_ ramen, "Nothing comes even close to this stuff!"

I gaped at the stack of empty bowls that Naruto had by his side. _I'll bet half of the profit this shop makes is from Naruto alone! And I thought I had a big appetite! _I almost fell out of my seat when Naruto said without hesitation, "Another bowl, please!"

"Dude," I started, "I know that this isn't the most expensive ramen, but that's EIGHT FREAKIN' BOWLS! How are you going to pay for that? I can't because my money's running low enough as it is!"

"Don't worry about it!" Naruto said cheerfully. He pulled something out of his pocked and held it up for me to see. "My froggy-bank will easily pay it all off!" I was staring at a frog bulging with coins and money.

"How on earth do you get that kind of money?" I asked

"Odd-jobs around town when I don't have anything better to do and when I've trained as much as I feel like doing." Naruto replied, "Also, we get part of the profit from missions too!"

_Note to self: Fine odd-jobs around Konoha when I've got nothing better to do. Possibly join Naruto in helping out._

"Well then, I guess it doesn't really matter as long as you can pay off your share of ramen!  
I said cheerfully.

Two bowls later (for Naruto, at least) we headed out of Ichiraku's, waving goodbye to the chef and that nice lady that was always with the chef. I suspected she was some kind of assistant to the chef or something. We both assured them that we'd be back for more soon, and then Naruto started walking. "Do you mind if I tag along with you for the time being?" I asked Naruto.

"Not a problem with me!" replied Naruto, "Besides, I think I want to show you something. I'll take you to my place real quick; the thing I want to show you is there."

"Fine by me." I replied. So we walked for a little bit to Naruto's place. Once we got there we went inside.

The first thought I had was: _Wow…this place is really messy. Then again, I could relate to him in a way. My room way back when wasn't in good shape either._

Immediately Naruto grabbed a – _Photo? – _from his shelf and handed it to me. "You wanted to know who Sasuke is? Well, that's him right there."

I was looking at a picture of Naruto, Sakura, Kakashi, and I assumed the black-haired kid with the scowl was Sasuke. "So that's what he looks like, huh?"

"Yeah, that's him," Naruto said rather quietly, "And soon I'm going to get him back from Orochimaru. I'll kick Orochimaru's ass all the way out of the continent he's in!"

I got this very odd sense from the picture that I'd never felt before. Sasuke did not look like the type of person that would get along with me very well, but in the photo he still seemed like a good person. Just not my type of good person. I studied the picture closely, feeling like I'd seen this 'Sasuke' before, but I couldn't place when. _Oh well. I'm sure it'll come to me like everything else does when I can't remember it. _I decided not to tell Naruto about the feeling I got from the photo.

Instead, I just said, "Doesn't look like the type that cares much to have a little fun here and there. He seems serious."

"Yeah, he was." Naruto replied. I couldn't believe it, Naruto actually looked almost depressed. He didn't seem like the kind that would fall into that very easily; Sasuke leaving must've had a huge impact on him.

I didn't like the way he felt, the emotional aura that he was putting off was starting to get me depressed, so I said to him, "Let's just go. I'm sure you'll find him, but in the meantime you can prepare for that time by training. After that, then you'll be able to kick Orochimaru's ass even further!"

Naruto smiled and said, "Yeah, that's true!" With that, we left Naruto's place and did our own things for the next couple of days, meaning I was either wandering around town some more or I was at home doing something. Mostly I was at home, though.


	9. Chapter 9: Greetings in Green

**DISCLAIMER: **I don't own Naruto. Period. End of line.

Chapter Nine: Greetings in Green

Naruto and I were wandering aimlessly around town a few days later. I didn't want to be alone at the moment, so I was tagging along with him. "So Naruto," I started, "The team we're on is Team Seven, right?"

"That's the one!" Naruto replied.

"And Tsunade said that we were stretched pretty thin in terms of amount of ninja available, right?"

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure Grandma said that."

"Huh? Grandma?"

"Yeah! That's what I call her! It's so funny how she gets so angry at me calling her that sometimes!" Naruto laughed for a little bit.

I waited until he was done laughing (though I have to admit, I stifled a laugh myself) and said, "Anyways, back to what I was trying to say. Tsunade said that I'd probably be placed with people from different teams other than Team Seven when we were on missions, right?"

"Yeah, what's your point?" Naruto asked.

"How many other Genin teams are there in Konoha?"

"Umm…three as far as I know. There's Team 10, with Shikamaru, Choji and Ino-"

"Hold on a sec," I told Naruto, "You said Ino was on Team 10? Ino Yamanaka?"

"Uhh…yeah, she's on Team 10. Why?"

"I've already met her, actually. It was at the flower shop; she was the only person other than me that was there. I actually met her before I met you!"

"Yeah," Naruto replied, "Ino's family runs that flower shop. It's got pretty good selection too!"

"How would you know, hmm? Grabbing flowers for Sakura?"

"NO!" Naruto shouted in my face.

"Calm down Naruto, it was just a joke!"

"Oh, okay. Anyways, there's Team 8, with Kiba, Hinata and Shino. Ever met any of those?"

"Nope. Keep going."

"Right then, and the last one that I know of is Team Gai, with Tenten, Neji and Rock Lee."

"Rock Lee?" I asked.

"Yeah, he's pretty cool. He doesn't have any Ninjutsu at all, just Taijutsu. Thing is, he can use Taijutsu like a master. And Gai-Sensei is even better than him!"

"Sakura mentioned Rock Lee. She said that he helped bring me here after Sakura got me into town." I said.

"Rock Lee's a good guy," said Naruto, "But he can sometimes get on the weird side."

"That's pretty much what I gathered from Sakura and Kakashi-sensei," I said to Naruto, "Anyways, back to the point I was trying to make. If I'm going to be put into teams other than the one I was originally assigned to, then shouldn't I get to know the other team's members as well?"

"Hmm…" Naruto thought for a moment, and then replied, "I never thought of it that way until now. It's probably a good idea now that I think of it. Hey, I know! Since you can't train or anything today because of your hands, I'll introduce you to all of the others today!"

"Sounds good to me!" I replied cheerfully, "So, where to first. I don't know where anyone is, so you're going to have to lead me around this village!"

"No problem!" he said enthusiastically, "And I know where to take you first, too! C'mon!" Naruto started running the opposite way we were going before, and I ran with him.

"You know," I said to Naruto, "We don't have to run. We've got all day!"

"Well, I want to run!" said Naruto. _Hyperactive indeed!_ I easily caught up to him, and we ran together to the first place. Naruto led me to a secluded part of town I hadn't noticed before, and a little ways further we were standing in front of what looked like a log cabin. "This is it! I'm sure he's in here, he's always in here!" said Naruto as he walked into the log cabin. I followed him inside.

The place was bigger inside than it looked from the outside, but then again the place was entirely empty except for one thing. A person was facing us at the back of the room, and he was standing on – _Holy shit, he's standing on his pinkies!!! How the hell is that possible!?_ – and a good sized puddle of sweat was right below him. He got off of his pinkies and stood up normally

This guy was wearing tight, green spandex with a Konoha headband he used as a belt, and large, orange cuffs (or something) were on each of his ankles. His eyes were pretty much white with big, black dots in the middle, and he had really fuzzy eyebrows. "Ah, hello Naruto!" The Green Guy said, "How are you doing."

"Pretty good, Bushy-Brow," replied Naruto, "I came here to introduce the new addition to our team, James."

"Hi!" I said cheerfully, "My name's James Moretto. What's yours?  
"I am Rock Lee, of The Hidden Leaf Village!" said The Green Guy, "And I am pleased to meet you."

"So, you're Rock Lee?" I said more to myself than anyone else. Then I told him, "Sakura said that you helped carry me to Konoha Hospital."

"That is true," said Lee, "Sakura was carrying you alone when I saw her in the middle of my training, so I decided to help out."

"Well, I never got the chance to thank you for that!" I said to him.

"Oh, that is no problem at all," said Lee, "The power of youth should always be preserved!"

I didn't really know what that meant, so I just nodded, pretending to know what he was talking about and said, "Yeah…power of youth…gotcha!"

"Now then," said Lee, "Since you are in my dojo, would you like to battle me? A friendly battle, of course."

"Umm, I wouldn't mind taking you on if my hands hadn't just gotten burnt to a crisp. Maybe later?"

"I will look forward to testing your strength." Said Lee. He gave a thumbs-up and a huge grin that practically blinded me because it was so bright. "Let your hands recover, and then we can test each other!" he said.

_Wow…test each other? I know what he means, but that still sounds wrong in my mind!_

"Alright you two," Naruto cut in, "James, we've still got a lot of people to go if you want to get through this today."

"True enough," I said. On my way out the door I called over to Lee, "I just might take you up on that challenge!"

Just then Sakura came running over towards us. She got to us and stopped so fast that she almost fell forward. "You okay?" I asked.

"Yeah, just in a hurry, that's all." Sakura said.

"What for?" I asked.

"James," she started, "You've got to get to Hokage Mansion as soon as possible. It's your first mission!"

_So much for meeting the people BEFORE I was sent out on a mission with them._


	10. Chapter 10: First Mission

**DISCLAIMER: **I don't own Naruto.  
**WARNING: **This chapter contains extreme shyness and ridiculousness on my part.

Chapter 10: First Mission

_Where is everyone? _That was my first thought as I scanned Tsunade's office, which only Tsunade and Shizune were inside of. _What's up with that dressed-up pig Shizune's always carrying around, anyways? _No one else was there.

"Wow," Tsunade remarked, "You really come fast when you're called, don't you?"

"I've always found myself to be the speedy type!" I replied with a cheerful smile, "Fast healing, fast response, fast fighting style, you name it!"

"Indeed," Tsunade said, "That's a nice change, too! Most of the people get here in about double the time that you did, and you don't want to know how late Naruto gets here."

"I can take a pretty good guess as to how long AND as to why. I'd say about half an hour to an hour late because of…" I paused for a little bit, then said, "Maybe because of eating ramen?"

"Pretty much," said Shizune, "Either that or he's training by himself. He actually works hard when it comes to training, surprisingly enough."

"She's right," Tsunade said, "Naruto probably puts some of the best effort into being a ninja that Konoha's ever seen, excluding Rock Lee, of course."

"That guy would kill just for training!" I remarked.

Tsunade chuckled a little, and then said, "I see you have some sort of sense of humor."

"Don't tell me your ninja are slow AND humorless!" I said.

"Nah, we've got many humorous or sometimes just flat-out silly ninja in Konoha," Tsunade said, "So, while we're waiting I might as well get a status report from you. Finding your way through Konoha alright?"

"Yeah, I've been doing pretty good, seeing as though I've practically been given a second chance at life!" I remarked, "Anyways, Konoha is HUGE! I'm telling you, it's at least five times bigger than The Village Hidden in the Sparks, not to mention the people are friendlier, ramen prices are tons cheaper and everything! This place is the best!!!"

"Glad you like it," Tsunade said, "Found any of the other Genin team members yet?"

"That's what I was in the middle of doing before Sakura rushed over to tell me that I was to be sent here."

"Which ones have you met?"

"Well, I've met all of my original team, meaning Naruto, Sakura and Kakashi-sensei. I also met Ino Yamanaka tending to a flower shop, and Rock Lee was training at his dojo when I met him. Other than that, I haven't met anyone else. If my calculations are correct…" I did some mental math, "…I still have seven left to see, not including their sensei."

"Got that right," said Shizune, "and that means you're going to meet a couple other Genin during this mission. Their names are Kiba Inuzuka and Hinata Hyuga."

_Kiba Inuzuka and Hinata Hyuga_, I repeated in my head. _Wait a sec…Hyuga? Didn't I come across an entranceway to something named "Hyuga" a few days ago? Might as well ask about it now. _I asked Tsunade, "What exactly is this 'Hyuga' thing? I came across something named Hyuga on my map a few days ago, and I wasn't sure what it was."

"That," Tsunade started, "is probably the entrance to the Hyuga clan's section of the town that you saw on your map. Konoha's residential districts are divided up by clan, and the Hyuga clan is one of the bigger ones in Konoha. Each clan has their own bloodline trait, for example, the Hyuga clan usually has pure white eyes with no pupils or anything, and they have an ability called Byakugan which allows them to see things from hundreds of yards away, detect chakra flow anywhere, have almost 360 degrees of vision, use special Jutsu, see through normal objects AND allows them to use the Gentle Fist style Taijutsu."

"Uhh…that's a lot." I said, "I really hope this Hinata person isn't mean or anything, or else I'm screwed for life! That's almost scary!" For the first time I'd seen, Tsunade actually laughed heartily. Shizune laughed too, and even the pig gave off something that resembled a laugh. "What's so funny?" I asked.

"Oh, uh, nothing!" said Tsunade, "It's just that the prospect of Hinata being a bully or something is so…out there! Needless to say, she's not mean at all! You have nothing to worry about!"

"You've probably never met a Hyuga before," said Shizune, "so now that we've warned you, don't be alarmed by Hinata's eyes. It's totally normal."

"Erm…okay?" I was still a little confused, but I just decided to let it slide. "So, what's Kiba all about?"

"Kiba's a good guy. He's got a dog named Akamaru that he takes into battle with him, and they work well together," Said Tsunade, "I think you and him will get along just fine!"

"I hope so, cause if the guy's a jerk-"

"What guy are you calling a jerk?" said a voice from behind me which I strongly suspected was Kiba.

I turned around to see a person wearing a sweater with his hood on. He was about as tall as me, and he seemed friendly enough at first sight. He had some weird red marks on his face. _Probably something to do with his clan. _Sweater Man held his hand out to shake and said, "I'm Kiba Inuzuka, and you must be James Moretto."

"That's me!" I said cheerfully. I shook his hand firmly and asked, "I heard you had some sort of battle dog, did you bring it?"

"Who do you think I am?" said Kiba with a grin, "I always bring Akamaru, pretty much everywhere I go!"

Just then I heard a high-pitched bark. A small, white dog poked out of Kiba's hood, really cute like. _Awww…How could something as cute as him fight in a battle? _"I like your dog!" I said to him, "Can I pet him?"

"Sure!" said Kiba. I went ahead to pet the dog, and the dog actually smiled and wagged its tail under Kiba's hood, making the back of his hood wiggle back and forth. "He seems to like you." Said Kiba.

"That's good," I said, "I'm usually not mean to anyone, so I don't see any reason why he wouldn't like me!"

"Um…sorry I'm late." a small voice from the entrance said. A girl emerged from half-hiding in the background outside of the entrance.

I freaked. First times with me are always the times where I go overboard with my reactions, be it the first time meeting people, first time training, and the initial pain that goes through you when you get hurt. This was no different. Upon seeing this girl, I immediately gave off a (arguably) girlish screech, panicked for a half a second, and the other half of that same second was used up by me crouching under Tsunade's desk so the girl couldn't see me. "What the hell!?" Tsunade almost yelled, "We WARNED you not to get freaked out by her eyes! Besides, they aren't that scary!"

My face was turning extremely red, and I stuttered, "Is-s-s-s th-th-that H-h-h-inata!?"

Tsunade let out a breath of frustration and said with a restrained voice, "Yes James, that is Hinata. She isn't all that scary; she isn't going to beat you up or anything, so get out of my desk."

"I won't hurt you." said Hinata, and upon hearing her voice I went into a kind of paralyzed state. I just kinda slumped over and went partially limp.

No one got it. I wasn't scared that she would beat me up. The fact of the matter is she was one of the most beautiful girls I'd ever see. I'd never expected it, and my initial reaction was to freak and hide. I'd reached an all-time high on the shyness scale, so high in fact, it transformed from shyness into a kind of fear, which is why I hid. Don't ask how that works, it just does. Then after hearing her voice for the first time, I basically went into some weird state of ecstasy. This is what was going through my head at that time, or at least the intelligible parts, and trust me; there are some parts that I've decided to cut out just because even I can't decipher them:

_OMIGOD! That is one of the most cutest people I've ever seen. Beautiful, medium length dark hair, almost bluish, those freakin' cute white eyes, and my god that voice! That voice'll probably make me melt for the next hundred times I hear it. What do I do, what do I do!? I'm freaking here, what do I do! Alright James, calm yourself down. You're acting pathetic. You're going to get up from behind Tsunade's desk, say that it was nothing and introduce yourself to her. Got that!? Okay, take a deep breath, exhale as you stand. Breathe…one…breathe…two…breathe…THREE!_

I got up from Tsunade's desk as calm as I could, facing opposite of Hinata and Kiba. I exhaled and turned around to face Hinata. I held her gaze for a couple of seconds, and then I let out some kind of "KEEEE!" sound and ducked under Tsunade's desk again. _So much for that…I CAN'T DO THIS!!!_

Apparently Tsunade had reached her limit of patience. She grabbed me by the shirt, lifted me up and lobbed me all the way across the room, out the room and into the entrance's wall yelling, "SHE'S NOT THAT DAMN SCARY!!!" I think that knocked me out of my state of panic real good, because I got up and forced myself to keep calm. I didn't want to get thrown all the way across the room again!

I said to Hinata (with great difficulty, admittedly), "I'm James. Sorry for that, I'm not af-fraid of you or anything, ok-kay?"

She smiled and said, "You don't have to worry about something like that," in that amazing voice of hers. That was a hair away from pushing me over the edge and making me lose my cool again, but somehow I held on to it. Good thing too; I never wanted to experience Tsunade's Throw of Doom again!

"Now then," said Tsunade, "If you'll step into the room again, I'll brief you on the mission…"

*

"What the hell kind of mission is this?" I asked Kiba as I pulled a fifth weed from the garden, "Seriously, I thought it would be at least guarding some unimportant caravan or something, but this?"

"Get used to it," Kiba replied, "This is the kind of work all of us Genin get commonly. You'll be doing this kind of thing for a long time. We get some cool missions, but most of them are basically just chores that people don't feel like doing on their own, so they hire us to do the work for them. I don't like it either, but that's the way it is." Akamaru let out a bark of agreement.

"So how long have you had that dog for?" I asked

"As long as I can remember." he replied.

"Wow," I said, "You two must have a strong bond."

Kiba laughed a little, and then said, "You don't know the half of it. I go everywhere with him, and he goes everywhere with me. You won't see us apart, ever!" He pulled another weed out of the garden.

We had been assigned to basically do yard work for some elderly person. Granted, he probably would not have been able to do it himself, but that didn't make it any less boring. Hinata was on the other side of the garden pulling weeds there (and I guessed that she was over there because of how I acted a couple of hours earlier in the Hokage's office.) I pulled a weed out – _This place is loaded with weeds!_– and paused to admire Hinata from afar. She was…perfect. There's no other way for me to describe it, she was just perfect. Needless to say, all thoughts of Sakura being cute were completely diminished from my mind. There was a slight breeze that caught her hair, which made her look only more beautiful.

"Um…are you okay, James?" Kiba asked. I didn't hear him. "Jaaames! Wake up!"

"Huh, wha?" I said as I came out of my trance-like state, "Oh, sorry."

"Why were you staring at Hinata like that?"

"Daaa…umm…I…well…I was just thinking about…um…thinking about…how she's from the Hyuga clan and all…and…and how…um…powerful she might be!" I emphasized those last words.

Kiba just looked at me for a few seconds, then laughed and said, "You are one of the worst liars I've ever known!"

"I'm not lying! I-it's just that I-I was curious a-about-"

"Dude, come off of it. I know you like her."

"Wha? I-I do not!"

"It's not a bad thing or anything! I won't tell her." Kiba said.

"Bullcrap you won't! You'll probably tell her just to humiliate me!" I realized what I just said basically confirmed that I liked her for Kiba. "Um…I mean, I don't l-like her like t-t-that!"

"Hey man, it's alright! I won't tell anyone." Said Kiba.

I paused for a little bit, then asked, "You promise."

"Yes James, I promise I won't tell anyone," said Kiba, "But seeing as though you're so pathetic around her, I won't need to tell anyone! Even Naruto should be able to figure that out!"

"I didn't realize that I was THAT bad."

"Dude, I'm not trying to be mean or anything, but you are THAT bad!"

"I guess so." I said. I took the last weed in the garden, gave it a good yank and forced it out of the ground. "That's the last of them, I think." I said.

"Good job!" the elderly man that hired us said, "Thanks so much!"

"That's all of them?" Hinata said from the other side of the garden.

Her voice made me melt inside again, and apparently it was showing on the outside too, because Kiba said, "You look a little red. Man…you really are pathetic!" I didn't hear a word he said.


	11. Chapter 11: A Hopeless Love

**DISCLAIME**R: If I owned Naruto, I would probably screw up about five and a half billion times! So be glad that I don't own Naruto.

Chapter 11: A Hopeless Love

A couple of months passed without anything big happening. I met the rest of the Leaf Village Genin, and what I thought of them differed from each person. I tried to get to know all of them somewhat well, and I also challenged all of them to a friendly battle after I knew them. Not a single one of them refused…

Shikamaru Nara was the first one I challenged. He was pretty cool in my opinion. Quiet, knows what to do, and when to do it. Very calm in any situation. I didn't think he would be too difficult to defeat. I got flat-out rocked by him; his strategic abilities are incredible. He trapped me in his Shadow Possession Jutsu just like that, and I had nothing to counter with. I couldn't get out of it, and I was forced to surrender. He told me afterwards to go learn some new Jutsu, and that's when I realized that I didn't have ANY Jutsu at all. I needed to learn some if I had any chance at all against these people. Naturally, I went to Sakura first. I figured she was smart and might have a few scrolls lying around, and I trusted her more than any other ninja in Konoha. She and I were becoming very close friends, very quickly. I waited outside the hospital until after she got off duty, and I told her, "Sakura, do you have any Jutsu that I might be able to learn?"

"Sure, I've got a few spare scrolls that go over some basic ones. Why do you ask?"

"Well…I kinda just challenged Shikamaru to a friendly battle…and-"

"And you got your ass kicked, right?" asked Sakura. I nodded and she said, "Shik's a difficult opponent even with Jutsu."

"So I found out a few hours ago." I said.

"Right, you can come over to my place for a little bit. The scrolls are there."

"Thanks." With that, we started walking to her house, and about halfway there it struck me. I had to ask now, and as I said before, I trusted her a great deal, so I asked, "Sakura…um…" Maybe I should say that I attempted to ask.

Sakura looked at me with a what's-bothering-you look and asked, "What's wrong?"

"Well…I...um…I've never asked something like this before, but…um…could you-"

"Sorry, but there's no way I'm going out with you."

"NO NO NO!!! It's nothing like that! It's just that…could you maybe give me some…" I didn't know what else to call it, "…girl advice?"

Sakura stopped in her tracks, turned to me and smiled with that teasing look, "Ohhh does James liiiike someone?" She drew out the word 'like'.

"Well…um…yeah, I guess I do," I said to her, "and I don't really know what to do either. Every time I try to approach her I get so shy that I always-"

"James?"

"What?"

"You're blushing." Little did I know that my face was about as red as a strawberry. _Shit, am I really blushing? That's embarrassing._

"Am I really?" I asked, more embarrassed than ever.

"Sorry to say it James, but yeah, you are," Sakura replied to my dismay She grinned teasingly and said, "And it's getting deeper. How's about you just tell me who it is that you like? It's Ino, isn't it!?"

"What the- NO, I'M NOT CRUSHING ON INO!!! She is NOT my type at all. Cute and all, but not my type."

"Oh, then it's probably Tenten, right?"

"Who do you think I am? No, Tenten's not my type either."

"Don't tell me you're crushing on an older person. If it's Kurenai-sensei, I swear I'll-"

"WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK I AM!?!?!? I AM **NOT **CRUSHING ON KURENAI-SENSEI! That would be just WEIRD!!!"

"Oh, well that's good. But who else is there?" Sakura asked me, "Please say that this isn't some weird curveball way to say that you like me."

"Ahhh…no. Sorry Sakura."

"Thank goodness. But who is it then?" Sakura donned a confused look as she said this.

"Really?" I said dryly, "You honestly can't think of anyone else?"

"No, not really. Wait a sec…oh my god…" It finally dawned on Sakura, "You…you couldn't have a crush on Hinata, could you?" I immediately felt my face start to go hot, and I had no doubt that I was blushing again.

"Um…well…uhhh……yeah, I'm crushing on…Hinata. Promise you won't tell anyone, please!?"

Sakura just looked plain dumbfounded. "I would never have guessed…yeah, I promise I won't tell anyone. But…there's something you might want to know before you try anything."

"And what might that be?" I asked.

"Hinata…well…hate to break it to you, but she's crushing really, REALLY, _**REALLY**_ hard on someone else, and I don't think that's going to change anytime soon."

Oh crap. What the hell do I do now? If she's got that big of a crush on someone else…I probably have a very small chance of this working out in my favor. _Maybe Sakura's over exaggerating. Maybe it isn't such a big crush that she has. Maybe… _"Who does she have a crush on?" I asked.

Apparently I looked really disappointed, because Sakura said, "Aww, c'mon James! Cheer up; there are other girls out there."

I asked again, "Who is she crushing on?"

Sakura sighed and asked, "Do you really want to know?"

"Yes."

"You aren't going to go off and beat the person up if I tell you who he is, will you? Or do anything else drastic like that?"

"No. I'm not like that."

"Okay…you asked for it, so brace yourself," Sakura sighed again and said, "It's Naruto."

"Huh? Did I hear you right, because it sounded like you said that it was Naruto?"

"It IS Naruto. Hinata has a majorly crazy-huge crush on Naruto!"

"No way."

"It's true."

_Out of all the people…Naruto? Hinata…Naruto? Whaaaa!?!?!? Brain not process correct! How does this work!? Me no get why Hinata like Naruto? WTF!? _Apparently this was extremely difficult for my puny brain to process. I never would've even imagined Hinata liking someone like Naruto, and it was difficult for me to imagine the pairing.

"Um…James? Are you going to be okay?" Sakura asked as I was lost in thought.

"Huh – oh yeah! I'm fine…I guess…" I kinda said the 'I guess' part with a little bit of disappointment, "I'm just having a really hard time trying to imagine that pair."

"We all do," Sakura said, "And the worst part is that Naruto is completely oblivious. He hasn't got a clue."

"Figures," I said, "He doesn't get many clues, does he?"

Sakura laughed and said, "Not really. But honestly, if you want my advice, find another girl."

We walked the rest of the way to Sakura's house in silence. I just kept thinking, kept hoping that Sakura was over exaggerating exactly how "Majorly crazy-huge" this crush really was. When we got to Sakura's house, she opened the door and invited me in. I hesitated, but after she said, "It's alright, my parents won't mind. Actually they're eager to meet you!" I had no problem coming in. "Hey Mom!" Sakura called, "You said you wanted to meet James? Well I brought him with me. He came to grab a few basic Jutsu scrolls to borrow."

A lady emerged from the kitchen and said, "Hello James! It's nice to meet you."

"Hello, Mrs. Haruno, it's nice to meet you too." I said to her.

"Not to be rude or anything," started Mrs. Haruno, "But if you wouldn't mind trying to make it quick. It's getting late."

I looked out the window and saw that she was right. It was dimming fast, and I hadn't even realized it. "Oh, that's alright. I totally understand, and I'll try to make it quick."

"Thank you," said Mrs. Haruno, "And try to be quiet too. My husband is sleeping in the living room again."

"Again?" Sakura asked, "That's the third time this week."

"Yes, I know," replied Mrs. Haruno, "but anyways, try to find the scrolls you're looking for quickly and quietly."

"Alright, thanks." I said to her. Sakura then led me upstairs, turned and entered a room that had a few shelves of nothing but Jutsu scrolls. Sakura made her way to the shelves and started to thumb through them. "I saw you do a fire-style Jutsu by accident, so you might be able to do well with a few of those if you try hard enough, and since you're from The Land of Lightning, I figure maybe a few Lightning-style Jutsu are in order as well. Plus the basics, like cloning Jutsu, replication Jutsu, replacement Jutsu…" She pulled out a scroll each time she mentioned a different Jutsu. She was really more talking to herself than anything. "Here you go!" Sakura handed me a bag full of Jutsu before I knew it, and this bag was stuffed.

I took the bag and said, "This is going to take a while, isn't it?"


	12. Chapter 12: Proficiency of Lightning

**DISCLAIMER: **I don't own Naruto. If you think I do own Naruto, I'll chop you up with my toy lightsaber!  
(Just kidding!)

Chapter 12: Proficiency of Lightning

For the next few day I trained vigorously by myself in the woods just outside of Konoha. I didn't want to be left behind, so I had to work triple-time with my training, since most everyone already knew the basics. It turned out that the basic ones, such as the Replacement Jutsu, Replication Jutsu were all quite easy to use. The only one I had trouble with was the Cloning Jutsu, but I decided that I'd work on that later. Right now I was eager to try one of the cooler-sounding ones, like the Lightning-style Jutsu. Frankly, I stayed away from the Fire-style ones that Sakura gave me; I didn't want to burn my hands to a crisp like that again, so I focused mainly on Lightning-style.

There were three Lightning-style scrolls that Sakura gave me: Lighting Hurl, Lightning Shock and Lightning Paralysis. From what I read, Lightning Hurl was supposed to be a small, compressed ball of lightning that you threw at your opponent which has great range, but not accurate at all unless you practiced throwing it often. Lightning Shock was supposed to be a medium-range bolt that came out of the palm of my hand, a good balance between range and power, with okay accuracy. Lightning Paralysis was a close-ranged, high-powered shock that is activated on contact of your opponent, and of course, accuracy doesn't play into that one except for the actual hit itself. It was also supposed to either knock-out or paralyze the opponent on the spot with one hit.

I tried Lightning Paralysis first, made the hand sign and said, "Lightning Paralysis Jutsu!" As I focused my chakra to my hands, they started to light up, and before I knew it they were shooting sparks every which way. It was awesome; I took in the feel of it, but at the same time I was conscious of the fact that my chakra was draining fast I had to use this thing on something, so I charged at a tree. Fist connected with wood as the lightning in my fist made an earsplitting _**CRACK!!! **_I took my fist off of the tree, which revealed a large, charred black mark that my lightning made on the tree. The tree was even sizzling a little. _Not bad at all…and easy to use too! Still, that uses up a lot of chakra if it's held for too long, so it'll have to be used quick in battle. _

I felt really good about learning that one so fast, so I decided to take a ten minute break. I exited the clearing I found, sat down on the grass by the trail, leaned myself against a tree, closed my eyes and relaxed.

Not ten seconds into my break I heard Naruto's voice close by. I opened my eyes, and sure enough, there was Naruto walking by himself down the dirt trail. He spotted me and waved, "Hey James! How's it going!?" he shouted as he ran towards me.

A pang of jealousy hit me for the slightest moment, I'll admit, but I diminished it just as fast as it came. Naruto was still my friend, and I wasn't about to let something as trivial as a crush get in the way of that. "Hey Naruto!" I called back. Once he reached me, I said, "You didn't have to rush over here, you know."

Naruto grinned his cheesy grin and said, "Yeah, I know I didn't have to, but I wanted to!"

"Fine by me," I said cheerfully, "Here, come take a look at what I did!" Naruto followed me to my clearing, and when I got there I pointed at the burnt spot on the tree. "Take a look at that! I'd say it's pretty good for a first try!" I said.

Naruto eyed it for a moment and said, "Not bad at all…but you want to see something even cooler?" _Something cooler, eh?_

"Sure, why not!" I said excitedly.

Naruto made a hand sign and yelled "Shadow clone Jutsu!" A perfect clone of him formed out of nowhere.

"Wow, that is pretty cool," I said, "It looks real."

"That's because it is real!" Naruto said grinning.

I touched the shadow clone, and it was real, alright. "Very cool. You'll have to teach me how to do that someday!"

"I've got free time right now, so I can if you want me to," Naruto said, "But that's not even the cool part! Watch this." Naruto held one hand in front of him with his palm facing up, and the shadow clone started to make weird movements with its hands around Naruto's palm. After a few seconds, he held a blue ball of what seemed to be pure chakra in the palm of his hand. The shadow clone disappeared in a poof of smoke, and Naruto struck the same tree that I hit just minutes ago, shouting, "RASENGAN!"

The tree's trunk was gone. Just like that, it'd been blown away by the amazing power that Naruto had harnessed. I just stood there for a second with my mouth open in amazement before I realized that the tree was coming down my way and got out of the way. _**SLAM!!!!! **_The tree hit the ground hard.

I was still amazed at how he was able to do this. "How…how did you do that!?!?" I asked him in amazement.

Naruto smiled and said, "Trust me; it was NOT easy learning that one. It took me more than a month of just trying to use it over and over to get it down."

"Wow…" I was in slight shock. That kind of power…did everyone else have something like this? If so, I was going to have to work a lot more than triple-time to catch up to everyone else's standards.

"Like I said before, I've got free time on my hands, so I can try to teach you," Naruto said, "At least I'll teach you how to use the Shadow clones, but the Rasengan is something I'm not so sure if I can teach at all."

"Shadow clones'll be fine." I said as I thought of the thousands upon thousands of possible combos I'd be able to use with Shadow Clones.

"Okay then," Naruto said, "Shadow clones are hard at first, but once you get the hang of it, it's really easy and doesn't take much chakra to use either! Just try with the hand sign and saying the words first."

"Okay, here goes nothing," I said, "Shadow clone Jutsu!"

Nothing happened.

"Okaaay," Naruto said, "Try it again, but this time, don't suck!"

"HEY!" I yelled.

"Just kidding! Anyways, try to focus yourself in another spot this time."

"Alright," I made the hand sign, tried to focus on a spot to the left of me and said, "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Something started to form to the left. _Is it working!? _A poof of smoke later and I was looking at a deformed version of myself lying on the ground. With a high-pitched voice, it screamed in my conscious, _YOU SUCK!, _and then went away with a poof. "Dammit." I muttered.

"Hey, don't worry about it," Naruto said with a smile, "I was the worst in my class when it came to cloning myself, but I still pulled through. All it takes is a little hard work and time!" He gave me a thumbs-up and said, "I couldn't even form something like that for a long time, but you did that on your second try! You can do it if you work at it! Believe it!" The funny thing was I'd taken to that catch phrase; it may sound stupid, but in the worst of times it can cheer you up, especially if it's Naruto saying it.

*

"Shadow clone Jutsu!" I shouted. Four other James's appeared in my defensive formation, one in front, one on each side and one at my back. Naruto, with a couple of pointers and a lot of encouragement, successfully taught me how to use Shadow clones for the first time. It'd taken a couple of hours, but I finally got it. "That's the way you do it!" Naruto shouted, "Great job!"

I dismissed my shadow clones and said, "I wouldn't have been able to do it without you. Thanks a million!"

"No problem!" replied Naruto, "Hey, you want to go for some Ramen. I'm getting really hungry."

"As long as you pay for your share!" I said to him. I was tired and hungry too, and Ramen sounded really inviting. The sun was just about ready to set, and we headed off to Ichiraku's Ramen Shop together.

*

The sun was setting in Konoha, and Tsunade was in her office facing a dilemma.

"Have you decided whether or not to tell him?" Shizune asked. Tsunade looked thoughtful, and didn't answer. "Did you hear me?"

"Yeah, I heard you." Tsunade replied. She was still contemplating whether she should tell James or not. _Is it better left unsaid? If he knows about it, he could strive to harness its power, therefore releasing it and all of the chaos it brings with it. But would he try something like that? _"I think we should wait for him to find out for himself," Tsunade said, "If James ever does find out, that is. It would be much preferable that he didn't, but I doubt that'll happen."

"And what happens when he figures out that we knew about it all along?" asked Shizune, "You know he'll probably be really upset."

"I've been paying attention to him, Shizune," started Tsunade, "and I know he would understand why we would've hid it from him given a reasonable explanation. The thing is that he's anxious to learn new things, and he would be more likely to release that monster through experimenting with its power rather than through sheer emotion.

"Well, you might want to look at what the medical ninja found just now." Shizune dropped a folder on Tsunade's desk. As Tsunade opened the folder, Shizune continued, "Between the blood and chakra samples we took from him when he first came to Konoha Hospital, he doesn't just have one in him. He's got two, and that's the only reason he's stable right now."

Tsunade was appalled at what the folder contained. "This is…" She slammed the folder down on her desk and said with extreme urgency, "Shizune, get James immediately!"

"Should I bring him here?" Shizune asked.

"No, get him to the sealing room. NOW!" Tsunade almost yelled, "We don't want this thing getting loose, or else the entire village could be in danger!"

"I'm on it, Lady Tsunade." Shizune said quickly as she ran out the door. Tsunade grabbed the folder off of the desk and hurried to the sealing room.


	13. Chapter 13: Kaminari and Mikaboshi

**DISCLAIMER: **I don't own Naruto. Is there a job opening at Ichiraku's, cause I want to work there!  
**Author's Note: **Kaminari and Mikaboshi are both the names of Japanese deities. I'm not sure if I have to say this, but I don't own any Japanese deities either.

Chapter 13: Kaminari and Mikaboshi

Naruto and I were enjoying some ramen at the Ramen Shop when I suddenly sneezed. I hadn't expected it, and it got all over my ramen.

"Haha! You got sneeze all over your ramen!" said Naruto, "If you don't want it anymore, I'll take it!"

"First of all, that's just gross. You still want my ramen after I sneezed in it? Nasty. Secondly, this is my bowl, and since it has MY sneeze in it, it's still alright for me," I said to Naruto, "I'd never give up something this tasty!"

"Aww…oh well!" Naruto turned back to his – _NINTH!?!?!?!? – _bowl cheerfully and began eating some more.

"Your stomach's size will never cease to amaze me," I said to him.

"This is how I've always been, for as long as I can reme-"

"James!!" I heard someone call from outside the shop. Shizune came into the shop and said, "There you are! James, you need to come quickly, Tsunade needs to see you immediately."

"What for?" I asked.

"I'll tell you on the way, now come on!" Shizune grabbed my wrist and started practically towing me to the Hokage Mansion.

We were about halfway there when I said while running, "Okay Shizune, you can let go now!"

"Sorry," she said, "I didn't even realize I was still holding on."

"It's fine, but anyways, what's this all about?"

"Something's inside of you," Shizune said, "and it's starting to become unstable."

"What is it?" I asked.

"More like 'what are they.' I think Tsunade would be able to better explain it once we get to her."

We came to the entrance to Hokage Mansion and ran in. Up the stairs we went, but Shizune turned a corner that I didn't expect. "Wait a sec, isn't Tsunade's office up there?" I asked.

"We aren't going to Tsunade's office," Shizune said matter-of-factly, "She isn't there. We're going somewhere else."

"Okaaay?" I just went along and followed Shizune down the corridor. A little ways into the corridor I felt a shot of pain go through my whole body all of a sudden. It was so unexpected and so sharp that I fell while running. "Aaaahh!!" I yelled. This pain was worse than anything I'd ever experienced. It made me feel dazed, dizzy and barely aware of my surroundings. I picked myself up and saw that something was…wrong…with my skin. Much of my skin had turned blood red and swollen, though I was not bleeding, and the blood red color seemed to be moving around my body and spreading fast. The pain was almost unbearable. "What…the hell…is this!!!" I yelled. My arms were covered in blood-red spots that were squirming around underneath my skin.

"Shit," said Shizune, "It's already started. We have to get you to Tsunade now, and I'll get you there even if I have to carry you!" Shizune scooped me up in her arms and started running.

I could see Tsunade standing in a large room up ahead, but the pain was getting so bad that it was becoming a challenge to stay conscious. I was starting to go numb. Shizune put me down in the very middle of the room gently, and Tsunade said, "I hope we aren't too late, Shizune. I'm going to start the sealing process."

The last thing I remembered was looking up and seeing Tsunade and Shizune standing over me. Tsunade's hands were placed over me, and Shizune had an extremely worried and scared look. After that I couldn't stay conscious any longer, and I was out cold.

*

I awoke in my bed, in my house. _What the hell happened? _I sat up and looked around, slightly numb to my surroundings. Then I caught a scent…_burning. _Something was burning outside. I jumped out of bed, slapped on some clothes and ran outside to see what was happening.

The entire place was burning. The village was on fire everywhere, and people were running every which way. I tried to ask them what happened, but no one paid any attention; they all were trying to get away as fast as they could. I saw Naruto take down something that looked like a ninja with demonic appearance that was setting houses on fire, and I rushed to him and said, "Naruto, what the hell happened here!?"

"They came at us! Mika-aaagghhh!" Naruto had just been stabbed in the back by an enemy demon-ninja. I caught him before he hit the ground and set him down.

"Naruto…no…" I said. I couldn't believe this was happening

"Watch…out…" Naruto fell limp. He was dead.

"No…no…" I looked at the demon-ninja who killed Naruto, and he vanished in the blink of an eye. I stood up and yelled, "YOU GET THE FUCK BACK HERE YOU FUCKIN' COWARD!!!" It was no use; he was gone already. "Dammit…"

I heard a scream that made my blood curdle and my heart skip a couple beats. _I know that voice…no no NO NO!!! _I ran as fast as I could possibly go, leaped over a building, and rushed into the burning entranceway that was of the Hyuga clan. Everything was in flames here too, and I saw Hinata surrounded by demon-ninja from a long ways away. She was on the ground and looked badly injured. I rushed over to her, but the demon-ninja were in my way. I threw a lightning-charged shuriken at them that exploded as it made contact. It hit one of the demon-ninja, exploded and blasted them all away from Hinata.

I ran over to her and crouched down next to her. She was in horrible condition; she was in a pool of her own blood. "No…no Hinata, don't die on me!" I checked her pulse. Nothing. I checked again. Nothing. "No…no…" I was on the verge of tears. I never got to say anything to her; I was too cowardly to say anything to her. Now it was too late.

I just held her in my arms for a while. _Those bastards…they will pay for this…they'll pay dearly… _I now hungered for killing the ones responsible for this. No, I didn't just want to kill them. I wanted to torture them with unspeakable methods. I wanted to hear the one responsible for killing her screaming in agony…I wanted to tear him limb from limb. I was enraged.

Excruciating pain went through my entire body. "AAAAGGGHH!" The pain sent me into convulsions, and I went down on the floor. I was in a state of rage and agony at the same time. I looked at my arms, and I saw that those blood colored bumps started to appear on my body again. It was worse this time, though. The pain was worse, and the bumps were so big that I thought they would rip my skin apart. My right arm's skin WAS starting to rip open, revealing a red, gory looking arm with a large, circular blade coming off of each end. The pain was unbearable, and I lost consciousness again.

*

"GAAAHHH!" I screamed and jumped up from where I was laying. In my state of panic, I fell off of the bed and on the floor face-first. "Ouch."

I looked around. It looked like the same room in Konoha Hospital that I was put in when I first arrived. _Wait a sec, this is the hospital!? Could that mean… _I got up from the hospital bed and opened the curtains.

The Konoha I knew was outside the curtains. It wasn't completely destroyed, burnt or charred. _Was it all just a dream? It felt so real…what happened to me?_ I decided to get back into bed before any of the nurses or medical ninja saw me up like this; I was in no mood for a health lecture. _Is everyone okay? Hinata? Naruto? Sakura?_

The door opened, and Sakura came inside, with Tsunade and Shizune following close behind. Sakura shut the door after everyone was in.

"How are you feeling, James?" asked Sakura.

"Fine," I replied, "Is everyone okay? Naruto's okay, right?"

Sakura gave me a weird look and said, "Yeah, Naruto's fine. Still a little confused as to why you had to go so fast, but he's fine. I'm a little curious as to what's going on too, Tsunade-sama."

"That'll be all, Sakura, "Tsunade dismissed Sakura, "You can go now."

"But what about-"Sakura started.

"Go, Sakura." Said Tsunade firmly. Sakura, with a slightly disappointed look, turned around and left.

"So," I started, "What exactly is going on?"

Tsunade said, "First, you must promise to tell this only to people you trust can keep this secret. Sakura would be fine."

"In other words, don't tell any big-mouthed people like Naruto?" I asked.

"Under NO circumstances should you tell Naruto."

"Makes sense to me."

"Right," Tsunade started, "You're probably going to have a hard time grasping this, so prepare yourself." I didn't know exactly how to prepare myself, but I just went along with it. After a pause, Tsunade continued, "This is what we know: you are the host of two monsters that are inside of you right now that have been basically waging an all-out war inside of you." Silence filled the room for a couple of seconds.

"…WHAAAT!?!?!?!?" I yelled.

"Keep it down!" hissed Shizune.

"Sorry," I said, "Is that all you know?"

"We know much more," Tsunade said, "The two monsters that are inside of you are mortal enemies. One of them, the good one, is named Kaminari, also known as the Lightning Queen. The other is named Mikaboshi, and he is the one all of us had to worry about. Kaminari has actually been keeping you stable for all these years, fighting off Mikaboshi for control of your body. We don't know how Mikaboshi got into your body in the first place, but from the examinations that we took when you first came here, we could tell that Kaminari starting to lose her power."

"Okay, so why did you rush me to some room I'd never been before, and why was I in so much pain when I got there? And what were the bumps all about?" I remembered that dream I had, where my skin tore off because of those bumps.

"Because Kaminari was losing power, Mikaboshi was almost able to take over your body. Those bumps were the effects of the process of taking over your body. We were almost too late; if the information hadn't come to my desk as soon as it did, Mikaboshi would be trying to destroy the village right now. You have Shizune to thank for that, too." Tsunade turned to look at Shizune and smiled, "She's the one that actually got you there."

"That's right," I said, remembering how she carried me the rest of the way to that room, "Thanks for that!" Shizune just smiled sweetly. "So, what exactly did you _do_?" I asked.

"We sealed Mikaboshi with the most powerful Sealing Jutsu that I could find." Replied Tsunade.

"So does that mean that Mikaboshi will be trapped in my body forever?" I asked.

"Hopefully, if the Jutsu is strong enough, which it should be," replied Tsunade, "You shouldn't have to worry about him from now on."

"That's great!" I said excitedly. I was glad I didn't have to worry about anything like that anymore. Then something struck me. "Um, Tsunade?" I asked, "What happened to Kaminari?"

"It's odd," Tsunade started, "because I actually talked to her. She doesn't need to be in your body anymore because of the sealing, and I offered to set her free, but she said that she wanted to remain inside you in case Mikaboshi is ever freed again. Apparently she has a grudge against Mikaboshi, but I also think that it's because she wouldn't know what to do if she were to be set free. She wouldn't know where to go, so she remains in your body in case you ever need help or in case Mikaboshi is freed."

"Huh, I can relate to not knowing where to go, alright." I said, "Tsunade, I had a dream just a couple of minutes ago. More like a nightmare, actually. The entire village was burning, and I saw some of my friends dead…I saw these demonic-looking ninja. Does this mean anything to you?"

"Hmm…" Tsunade looked thoughtful. "I'd say that was caused by Mikaboshi trying to lash out at your psyche at the last minute. I wouldn't worry about it too much, now that he's sealed away. He can't do a thing." Tsunade started to head to the door, but she turned around and said, "And don't forget, don't tell anyone like Naruto about this. It would only cause an unnecessary panic in the village."

"I know, I know! You don't have to tell me twice; I know Naruto well enough to know what to tell him and what not to tell him!" I said.

"Good," said Tsunade, "now get some rest. You probably need it." Tsunade opened the door and walked out, with Shizune following and closing the door. Shizune waved at me through the glass, and I waved back.

_Wow…glad that's over. So are they just going to keep me here for the rest of the day or what? _

For the rest of the day I tried to get some sleep, but I was too afraid that I would have another nightmare like the last time to go to sleep until about 2:00 in the morning. No nightmares came, thankfully, and I woke up the next day fresh as daisies.


	14. Chapter 14: Apologetic Training Fever

**DISCLAIMER: **I don't own Naruto.  
**Author's Note: **This is probably one of the stupidest chapter titles I've ever come up with, but I don't care!

Chapter 14: Apologetic Training Fever

After I had that nightmare, I wasn't nearly as shy around Hinata anymore. I didn't want to lose my chance to get to know her; I was afraid that my nightmare might come true, and that I might lose my chance at any given moment. Sure, I still liked her like that, but I had taken that feeling in a different mindset: instead of being shy and hiding from her, I wanted to know more about her, to be her friend, to help her out when need be.

A couple of days after I had the nightmare and that whole ordeal with two monsters inside of me (which the thought of scared me shitless), I actually searched for Hinata to apologize for how I'd acted around her. After about an hour of searching and asking around, I found Kakashi reading his copy of "Make-Out Paradise" and asked him, "Kakashi-sensei, have you seen Hinata around at all?"

Kakashi looked up from his book and said simply, "Yes, I have."

"Do you know where she is?"

"Yes…"

"Do you mind telling me where she is?"

"And why should I do that?" Kakashi asked.

"Because I wanna talk to her." I said. This was getting a little annoying, but I held my calm.

"What about?" asked Kakashi, "You going to ask her out on a date or something?"

"Wha- NO!" I said rather loudly. I could tell Kakashi was enjoying this.

"Oh, so you're just going to confess to her?" I swear I saw an evil smile under Kakashi's mask.

"No! Now seriously, tell me where she is!"

"Say the magic word."

"What the hell!?"

"Wrong."

I sighed. "Please?"

"Please what?"

"Would you please tell me where Hinata is?" I tried the puppy-dog trick, even though I knew I was horrible at it. Right now what I really needed was Naruto's Harem Jutsu. _Note to self: Get Naruto to teach me Harem Jutsu._

Kakashi chuckled and said, "Fine. She's in Konoha Forest somewhere, that's all I know. She's also with her team, so if it's a private conversation you're wanting then you should wait until- Huh? Where'd he go?" When he said that Hinata was in Konoha Forest, I was off like a rocket to the Main Gate. "I swear, if he DOES ask her out…" Kakashi muttered, "Oh well, It'd be his funeral, not mine!" Kakashi began reading his orange book again.

I had gotten to Konoha Forest and I started my search while thinking to myself. _I don't really care who she's with, as long as I get the chance to talk to her at one point. If she's out with the rest of her team, that means she's probably training with them. Let's see…there's Kiba, Hinata…but I don't even know the third one on the team OR the sensei. This'll also give me a chance to meet the other two, so I'm killing two birds with one stone._

It hadn't been long at all before I heard a hi-pitched "Bark!" and someone saying, "What's up, Akamaru? Is someone here?"

_Looks like THEY found ME instead! _

The next thing I knew, a huge, thick swarm of bugs came buzzing at me. "What the-" I hadn't even said 'hell' before the bugs formed around my waist, picked me up and threw me into a nearby clearing I hadn't seen before. I landed hard on the ground face-first, those creepy-crawlies were pinning me down now, and they were all over my wrists and ankles now, so I couldn't get up.

"Who are you?" asked a voice I hadn't recognized. I looked up from the ground and saw a tall guy wearing a huge jacket and sunglasses. The bugs were coming from his sleeves.

"It's alright, Shino," Kiba said, "he's on our side."

"How can I be sure of that?" asked Shino, "Sneaking up on a training Genin team is pretty suspicious to me."

"I've got a freakin' headband, see?" I pointed at my forehead where the headband was. "I'm with you!"

"Um…Kiba and I both know him…"Hinata started, "…so you can let him go."

Shino looked at Kiba, then Hinata, then down on me. "Fine, but only if you're sure." He said.

"Go take a look at him, Akamaru, "said Kiba to his dog. Akamaru happily barked and rushed over to where I was being pinned.

As he sniffed me over, I started laughing. "Cut it out, that tickles!" I said between giggles.

Akamaru let out a yelp of approval after he was done sniffing me. Kiba nodded to Shino and said, "See? Even Akamaru recognizes him."

Shino looked down at me again, and the bugs started to withdraw back into his sleeves. When they were all gone, I got up and dusted myself off. I asked Shino, "So you're the sensei here?"

"No," Shino replied, "I am just a Genin still. I'm with Hinata and Kiba."

"Oh, sorry." I said, "My mistake." _He looks old enough to be a Jonin, not to mention powerful enough!_

After a moment of quiet, Shino asked, "So, why were you spying on us?"

"Well," I started, "I wasn't exactly _spying_. I was looking for…well…to be honest, I was looking for Hinata, and Kakashi-sensei said that I would find her with you guys somewhere out here training, so I went and looked. Akamaru picked up my scent as I was looking, and then you, pretty much immediately, pinned me down with your bugs. You know the rest!" Kiba was grinning like crazy, and I could see that he was suppressing his urge to make some joke about me liking Hinata, so I said to him, "It's not what you think, Kiba."

"So, what is it that you wanted to tell me?" asked Hinata in that gorgeous voice of hers.

"Umm…just wanted to say sorry for how I acted during that last mission. I'm not scared of you or anything…umm…yeah, that's pretty much it."

I wasn't as shy around her, but I was still kinda shy. I was more the "I'm gonna probably stutter a few times around her" type shy than I was the "Run and hide as fast as you can" type shy.

"You came all the way out here just to tell her that?" Shino asked.

"Um…yeah, I guess," I said, "I felt like I had to get it out of my system as fast as possible."

Hinata smiled and said,"It's okay."

_Man, that voice of hers is beautiful!_

"Hey, you got anything planned?" Kiba asked me.

"Um…not really, "I replied," I was just going to go home and train by myself. Naruto is out on a mission and Sakura's in the hospital as always, so I usually train by myself. But to answer your question, I don't really have anything planned for today."

Kiba looked at Shino, then at Hinata, then back at me. "We'll be back in a sec," said Kiba, "Wait here. Shino, Hinata, come with me for a sec." Shino and Hinata both followed Kiba outside of the clearing.

_Wonder what this is all about. That was sudden; Kiba just asked them away. But why? Oh no…oh no…is Kiba telling Hinata and Shino about my crush on Hinata!? No, he wouldn't. He promised; he wouldn't. Would he?_

Kiba, Shino and Hinata came back after a minute or two, and Kiba said, "If you don't have anything planned for today except training by yourself, wanna train with us?"

I immediately said, "Hell yeah!" and pumped a fist in the air. "I'll show all of you what I'm made of!"

*

"Alright, prepare yourself!" Kiba shouted from the other side of the forest clearing.

"Already done." I said.

Shino put his hand up, then swept it down and said, "Begin."

I immediately made the hand sign and yelled "Lightning Hurl Jutsu" as Kiba made a hand-sign and said, "Man-beast clone Jutsu!" Akamaru turned into another Kiba, who was crouching down on the floor and looked like it was ready to pounce. _These guys look like close-ranged specialists. _I threw the relatively small ball of lightning I had in my hand at them, which they both dodged easily. The lightning ball sizzled and dissipated where it landed on the ground, and the grass there was turned slightly dark. _No way I'll be able to hit them with that_. Akamaru and Kiba were both charging at me, and I jumped over them to dodge, but one of them launched himself off the back of the other, and I got clawed at the shoulder in mid-air.

I hit the ground hard, but caught myself before I hit face-first. Blood dripped from the clawed shoulder, but I didn't care how much it hurt. It was just pain, nothing more, and while the wound was semi-deep, it wasn't going to stop me. I got back up and made the hand-sign. I could hear one or both of them charging at me again; my back was towards them. I waited for just the right moment, then yelled, "Lightning Paralysis Jutsu!" I pivoted, turned around and struck one of them with my lightning-charged hand on the spot. He shook uncontrollably for a moment, then fell to the ground limp. A poof of smoke appeared around him, and Akamaru was lying on the ground, not moving an muscle.

"Akamaru!" Kiba shouted and ran towards his beloved dog. Kiba felt Akamaru for a pulse.

"Don't worry Kiba, he's not dead. He's just paralyzed, that's all." I said to him. Kiba still looked worried, so I said, "Do you want to stop this for now?"

"Yeah, I think so," replied Kiba, "but this isn't over!"

"I know." I said, "We'll call it a draw for now."

*

_This one's gonna be interesting._

"Be warned, I'm not going to go easy on you!" I said to Hinata on the other side of the clearing.

"I don't expect you to." Said Hinata, "And I won't either."

_Hearing that voice, maybe I SHOULD go easy on her. I don't feel like-_

"Begin." Shino said as he waved his hand down.

_Well, here we-_ Almost immediately I got blown back a foot or so and hit the ground. I didn't even know what the hell happened; all I knew was that my ass was on the ground, Hinata was standing where I was standing before I got blown back, my entire chest hurt like crazy and I seemed to not have as much Chakra as before. I still had some, though, and without even thinking I made the hand-sign while still on the ground. "Lightning Bolt Jutsu!" A blast of lightning emitted from my hand which hit Hinata and knocked her back about the same distance I was knocked back by her.

_Wow, Hinata's defiantly no pushover. Fine then, if she's THIS tough, I'll have to not go easy on her!_

Hinata stood back up and went into a fighting stance, and I did the same. _Time to try something new…_ I made the hand-sign and said, "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Three clones of me appeared around Hinata. All four of me made the same hand-sign and said, "Lightning Paralysis Jutsu!" Four lightning-charged fists were heading in Hinata's direction , each from a different direction.

Right at the last minute, Hinata jumped straight up over all of our heads, and we ended up hitting each other. I got hit by one of my clones, and an electric shock was sent through my body. "aeiaeiaeiaeiaeiaie!!!" was what could best be described as what I was saying as I was being shocked into paralysis. All of my clones disappeared, and I fell down to the ground, not able to move a muscle.

Two things went through my head: _I can't believe I was so stupid as to do something like that_ and _So this is what it's like to be paralyzed._

Kiba snickered and said, "Hey Hinata! I think you might've overdone it!"

"He's the one who came up with the brilliant idea." Said Shino.

Hinata said, "Sorry, James!"

_What the hell's she talking about? Someone was probably going to get hurt; she didn't have to apologize for something like that!_

"Uh, he's not moving at all," said Kiba "Is he okay? Hinata, check his pulse just in case."

"Okay." Hinata replied. She came up to me and put two fingers on my neck to check for a pulse. Being so near her, I wouldn't be surprised if my pulse went up a good ten or twenty beats per minute or so. It sure felt like it, and after the pulse check, Hinata looked at me with an odd look. Unexpectedly, she put her hand on my forehead, and by then my heart rate was way above the norm.

"What's wrong?" asked Shino.

"Um…I don't really know…" replied Hinata, "He look's like he's running a fever or something."

One thing I knew was that I WASN'T running a fever, and judging by Kiba's uncontrollable laughter, he knew that too.

"What the hell's wrong with you?" asked Shino to Kiba.

"Ahaha, noth-nothing! I'm f-fine." Kiba managed to say before he broke out laughing again.


	15. Chapter 15: Library Love and Hanami

**DISCLAIMER: **I don't own Naruto. Stop asking.

Chapter 15: Library Love and Hanami

I'd recovered from the paralysis fairly quickly, and for the next week or so I was training on and off with Naruto, myself or with Hinata and her team. Still no missions arrived for me other than an occasional D-rank, which involved very simple, mindless chores most of the time. Kiba, though he started laughing at me whenever I overreacted around Hinata, nevertheless kept his promise and hadn't told anyone about how I felt about her.

Naruto had tried to teach me how to use Rasengan, but frankly I couldn't get past the first test he put me through, which was to make a water balloon pop without even moving it. _What the hell does this have anything to do with Rasengan? I'm starting to think that Naruto's just fooling with me_. Of course, he wasn't, but I thought he was at the time, so I decided to do work on something else.

Kiba and Shino's fighting styles were interesting, but not as much so as Hinata's. When I asked about it, Kiba said, "It's called 'Gentle Fist Style', and the strategy behind it is to try and take out your opponent's chakra points, which are your main source of chakra."

"It's pretty cool," I said, "Can I try learning it?"

"Uhh…" Hinata started, "I don't think…it'll work for you."

"Why not?"

"Um…because you can't see chakra points."

"And you can?"

"With the Byakugan…yes."

"Byaku-wha?"

"It's a bloodline trait passed down in the Hyuga clan," Shino said, "It can see your chakra points, has 360 vision and can see from hundreds of meters away through objects as well."

"...Oh…didn't know that." I said. _Damn…I really wanted to try Gentle Fist Style too…_

"Some say there are other means of seeing chakra points," Kiba pointed out, "It's said that there are a select few out there that can see them even without the Byakugan…but I doubt you're one of them."

With that, we kept training for the day. Afterwards I went to Sakura's and asked if she had any scrolls on Gentle Fist Style attacks. "I only have one, and it's a history of the Hyuga Clan," she said, "Your best bet is to go to the Hyuga Clan's section of town and ask for some there." _Eek! The Hyuga Clan section!? What if I run into Hinata, what'll she say!?_

"You don't have to worry about the people there," said Sakura, "Some of them don't like visitors, but most of them wouldn't mind. Besides, I think there's a library there. You could probably find what you're looking for their pretty easily."

She handed me the scroll, and as I took it she asked, "So how are those Jutsu that I gave you last time?"

"I couldn't do crap with the fire ones, but I'm great with lightning. You were right, I think it's because I come from The Land of Electricity." _And Kaminari… _"I'll get them back to you tomorrow."

"Alright, thanks!" said Sakura. I waved took off.

_Now then, I don't think I'll have to worry about Hinata…that's only one person out of how many that could be out there? Let's see…_ I pulled out my map of Konoha and looked in the Hyuga Clan's section. _Hmm…I don't see a- wait, there it is! A Hyuga Clan Library, perfect! _I stuffed my map into my pocket and ran towards the library. I saw the Hyuga Clan's threshold and went through. _Now I'm inside Hyuga Clan territory, and the library should be…THERE! _I spotted the library only a few paces down. I ran to the door and I would've burst right though if I hadn't remembered it was supposed to be quiet in libraries. I entered quietly.

_Holy shit, this place is freakin' HUGE! _I was standing in a vast interior; the only place bigger that I could think of was Hokage Mansion. Thousands of books and scrolls were stored in neat shelves, many people were seated at desks as they read…whatever they were reading (in the case of Kakashi, I didn't want to know), and there was a librarian behind a larger desk to the far left of the library. _Wow…_ I shook myself off of my trance and focused on what I was here for: stuff on the Gentle Fist fighting style. I wanted to know if there was any other way for me to learn it, because from what I'd heard of it before (and experienced of it firsthand, no pun intended); it seemed to me that it was my kind of style. Only problem: no Byakugan, which means I can't see chakra points, which makes Gentle Fist for me useless…unless I find another way here, which was precisely what I was looking for. _Guess I'll just start with the "G"s. _I headed over to the G section of the library.

When I got to the entrance of the G section, I immediately backed away and hid behind one of the shelves. _SHIT! Out of all the people in all of the places, why did it HAVE to be HER, HERE!? _I peeked ever-so-slightly and sneakily into the G section. _There she is, my bluish-black-haired beauty…what is she doing here? Wait a sec; we're here in the same time, looking for something in the G section at the same place…is this a coincidence? Did Kiba set this up!? No…he couldn't have…he didn't know…Sakura, maybe? No, she wouldn't…would she? Well, it doesn't matter now…just take a deep breath, exhale and go. Deep breaths…exhale, GO!!!_

I turned from where I was hiding and entered the G section where Hinata was, so far with only slight, barely noticeable jitters. _Right, now get what you need quick and hope she doesn't-_

"Oh, James…hi." Said Hinata.

_-notice…well…fuck._

"Um…hi," I replied, "What are you doing here?"

"Um…looking for scrolls."

"Well…of course…this is a library after all." _This is getting awkward; we're both hesitating to say something at first, and in almost the same ways! _

"Actually…I was kinda looking for scrolls on…Gentle Fist Style…" said Hinata. _It's official, someone set this up. But then, if someone did, how would they know about my interest in Gentle Fist? Only Sakura knows about that, and she couldn't have had enough time between when I rushed here to talk to Hinata and have her rush here before me. It either has to be a coincidence…or…_

"Erm…that's weird. I was kinda…looking for the same thing." I replied.

"That's…actually…um…" Hinata trailed off for a second, "…why I'm here. I could tell you were…interested in that fighting style…so I thought I'd get a few scrolls for you…to help out." _Now this is getting awkward AND creepy. How could she have known all by herself!? Does Byakugan come with mind-reading powers too!?_

"But you know I don't have Byakugan."

"I thought maybe…there might be another way."

"…like…?"

"…I don't really…know, but I kinda thought that…maybe if there was….then that would help you."

"It would help…but how in the hell did you know?" I couldn't hold the question in any longer.

"I…don't…know. I could just…tell." She replied.

Before this event took place, I had a full-throttle, super-mega-ultra huge crush on her, but about this time is when I think I actually fell in love with her. I don't know what clicked in my mind that day, but from every day afterwards I was more comfortable around her, less pressured, less stutters and hesitations occurred around her. She was…perfect in my eyes. I knew I could never tell her, though…

Right then and there I was a hair's length from shouting, "Hinata, I love you!" In fact, the only things that stopped me from doing so were the fact that we were in the library, and that it was Hinata. But I restrained myself and said instead, "Well…thanks."

She dug through the shelves, pulled some scrolls out and handed them to me. "…If there is a way," she said, "It would be here. I'm…surprised that you came…here."

"To be honest…I'm surprised I came here too." I said as I took the scrolls. "Thanks for the help…"

*

"This looks like it's gonna be a lot of work…" I said to myself as I read the scrolls Hinata gave me. I was back at my house looking over them by myself, and it was POSSIBLE to learn Gentle Fist Style effectively without the Byakugan. Only problem: you had to memorize exactly where each and every chakra point in the entire human body was located instead, and since there were 361 chakra points total, this was going to be a lot of memorization. I probably would have to work on this for months before I even could begin to use it at all. Not to mention being able to control my own chakra points is going to be a grueling learning process, and that was the first step I had to take. Just being able to exert chakra from my fingertips was gonna be hard…

…But I was that damn determined…and that damn crazy, not to mention. When I could've learned a whole lot of other things, I just HAD to learn how to use Gentle Fist Style. Nothing else was good enough for me.

_Well…I don't have to learn where ALL of the chakra points are; I could probably just start with a handful…twenty or so to start, and work my way up from there. I'll focus on my fingertips for exerting chakra, in fact, that's where I should start…let's see, according to the instructions here, I only have to focus a large portion of my chakra into the fingertips and shabam! _I held my hand out and focused my chakra on the tip of my index finger. Sure enough, the tip started to glow blue.

Initial thought: _Hey, that's not so hard.  
_Thoughts after two minutes: _This is getting tough to hold…  
_Thoughts after five minutes: _She…won't…hold…she's…breaking…up!!!  
_Thoughts after seven minutes: (I wasn't thinking then; I was too brain fried to think intelligibly. I was still incredibly holding on, though.)  
After ten minutes: I FINALLY let go of my chakra hold, and fainted out of exhaustion.

_Ohhhh…my head…my fingers feel tingly…what happened…? _I sat up on the floor of my house, dazed and confused. _Um…I was working on holding onto my chakra control with my fingertips…oh yeah, I must've pushed myself so far that I fainted. Why did I do something like that? Geez, if I can't hold it for two minutes without having a hard time with it, I've got my work cut out for me! _Someone knocked at the door. _Wonder who that could be… _

I opened the door to see Sakura outside of it. "Hey Sakura," I said, "What brings you here?"

"I need to get those lightning scrolls back," she replied.

"Oh, alright! Wait here." I ran into the living room, grabbed the scrolls, ran back and gave them to her. "Thanks for letting me borrow them."

"No problem," she replied.

"Is that all you came here for?" I asked.

"No…actually…I was wondering if maybe you could come to The Cherry Blossom Festival with me. I'm not saying that I like-like you or anything, it's just that I don't want to be alone for it. I know you like Hinata and all, and I…like someone else, so it would be just as friends."

I hadn't heard of this before now, so I asked, "What is the Cherry Blossom Festival?"

"Well, actually it's called Hanami. Do you want the entire history or just the basics of what we do today?"

"I've never been a real history freak, so I'll just stick with the basics."

"Basically a whole bunch of people gather around the cherry blossom trees when they're in full bloom and have fun. You know, parties, food and drink, that kind of stuff."

"Is it very formal? Will I have to dress up or something?"

"It's preferable, but most guys don't dress up in anything super-expensive. No tux necessary, but don't come over looking like a hobo. Just grab some clean, sensible clothes and you're all set. Also, it would be nice if you brought some food or drink with you, just in case. The girls usually dress up in kimonos to attract the guy they like, but I'm not going to do that."

"When is it?" I asked.

"It's exactly three days away," Sakura replied, "There will be four sections; Jonin and the higher-ups like Tsunade and Shizune in one, Chunin in another, Genin would be separate from both of those, and the Academy Students along with some of the regular teachers like Iruka in another separate section. It'll be fun, especially during the night when all of the cool-looking lights are on. C'mon, please? I don't want to go alone; people'll make fun of me! Especially that Ino-pig!"

"Hmm…I dunno…I'm not sure I'll be in the mood. I've never been big on huge parties like this. I mean, small parties with friends that I know are the ones I like, not the huge ones that have a lot of people I don't know. Believe it or not, but when there are a large amount of people that I don't know in the same place as me, I tend to get shy and try to find a quiet place by myself."

"C'mon, pleeeeease?!" Sakura practically begged, "It'll be fun!"

"Why can't you go yourself? I doubt people will make fun of you THAT much."

Sakura's attitude totally changed in an instant. She got 'that look' on her face, that mischievous look. Quietly and persuasively, she said, "Hinata's going to be there…and I'm pretty sure she's going to be in a kimono. Just think of it, Hinata in a purple, flowery-designed kimono. You don't want to miss out on seeing something like that, do you?"

"...When did you say it was?" I asked weakly as I half-daydreamed about Hinata in a beautiful purple kimono.


	16. Chapter 16: Flowers and Dreams

**DISCLAIMER: **I don't own Naruto or Ed, Edd and Eddy.  
**Author's Note: **If you've managed to make it this far in the story, please don't forget to review! Improvement is good, and I'll take any pointers I can get!

Chapter 16: Flowers and Dreams

After Sakura told me again that Hanami was three days away, we said our goodbyes and she left. My mind hit overdrive, _Crap, what am I going to wear? What'll I do? I guess I can just dress up in my normal clothes…I'll have them washed and dried right before Hanami. But if Hinata's going to be there…I've got to do something for her! But what…hmm…Oooh, I've got an idea! _I put my shoes on, grabbed some money and headed out the door as quick as lightning (no pun intended).

_Now where was that place again? _I took out my map of Konoha and looked for the place. _Aha! There it is! _I ran down the street as fast as my feet could carry me. I don't know why, but I had a feeling that I needed to rush for no reason. I did have three days, anyways.

Finally, I was standing at the face of the Yamanaka Flower Shop that I'd stumbled into on my first days in Konoha, and that beautiful fragrance of all the flowers mixed into my nose pleasantly. I walked inside and saw Ino at the counter. "Hi Ino!" I said as I waved to her.

"Hi James," she replied sounding a little surprised, "What are you doing here?"

"Picking out a few flowers," I said, "What else?"

"Oh? Are they for decoration in your house like last time?"

"Umm…no."

"So does that mean they're for someone else?" she said looking very intrigued.

"Umm…you could say that."

"Oooooh!!!"

"Cut it out!" I said, though I smiled because I knew she was just teasing.

"So who's it for?"

"Umm…well…you see, there's this one girl…and well-"

"Holy crap, spit it out already! Seriously, you're worse than Hinata!" she exclaimed. At those words I felt my face start to heat up, and I knew it was going to be red soon. Apparently she noticed immediately, because she said, "Um, are you okay? It looks like you've got a fever or something."

"N-no, I'm f-fine!" I said.

"Geez, you even stutter like Hinata does sometimes too," Ino said dryly, "Y'know, you and her would probably make a perfect co- wait a sec! You're getting a flower for Hinata, aren't you!?" she almost shouted as I started seriously blushing, "YOU like HINATA!?!?!?!?!?"

"U-um…y-yeah, I d-do. B-but please d-d-don't t-t-tell her!?" I managed to spurt out.

"Wow…I had no idea Hinata had an admirer!" Ino said, "You know, you and her would probably go together pretty well."

"H-how so?" I asked.

"Well, let's think about it for a minute. You stutter just like her, you blush _worse_ than her, and if you're here to get a flower for her, which I suspect you're going to give her on Hanami, you're probably one of those guys who aren't necessarily good-looking, but really sweet. I'd say you actually have a fair chance with her!" she told me.

"R-really!?" I said incredulously. _I thought before that I was almost on a wild goose chase with Hinata, but if Ino, who knows pretty much everything there is to know about relationships and affairs in them, if she thinks that I actually have a chance, then I might not be in a wild goose chase after all!_

"To be honest, you're a lot like her," Ino started, "You blush and stutter every time your crush's name is even whispered, you're always polite, you're shy and stay at your house a lot training to prove yourself to others. Sure, you maybe total opposites in physical features: your hair is blonde, whereas hers is bluish-black, and you're almost 6 feet tall, whereas Hinata's really short, but some say that opposites attract!"

"Wow…um…I really had no idea!" I said.

"Well, now you do!" said Ino, "You can thank me later, but right now I think I feel like helping you this time around."

Ino ducked under the counter suddenly. "Hey, why are you down there?" I asked.

"We keep the best flowers in the shop hidden, and I'm trying to look for one that you can give to Hinata!" she said from under the counter, "Don't come around; I'm not supposed to be doing this, but I am anyways."

"Okay." I waited as Ino scrambled through the counter looking for this really good flower.

Finally she came back up with a single flower in her hand. "Here, give this to her." She said as she handed the flower to me. I took the flower, examined it.

I was shocked instantly. "Where the hell did you get this?" I asked, still looking at the flower. It was a Rainbow Flower, with all of the colors of the rainbow circling around the center of the bud. It was beautiful indeed, but it was really odd that the Yamanaka family could've ever found it. "These are…they're native to my homeland…The Land of Electricity. As far as I knew, they only grew there."

"Huh, really?" she asked, "I just thought it was nice looking, so I picked it. I found it while I was on one of my missions up in The Land of Lightning. It was up in the northern parts of The Land of Lightning, so it'd make sense that I found it just outside The Land of Electricity. Anyways, you can give that one to Hinata!" I was still looking at the flower, amazed at how Ino was able to find something as rare as this.

"How much for it?" I asked.

Ino chuckled a bit and said, "It's free of charge, smart one!"

"Whoa, really!?"

"Yup!"

"Wow, thanks a million!" I said.

"Oh, almost forgot! You're going to need something to plant that in to keep it alive."

"No worries; I've got a vase back home just like the one my Emerald Flower is in right now."

"Oh, okay then!"

"Ino," I said sincerely, "Thanks for your help."

"You're welcome," she said smiling, "Good luck!"

"Thanks." I said. _Luck…I'm definitely gonna need a lot of that if I'm going to pull this one off._ I waved goodbye, left The Flower Shop and headed back home. _Yup, I'm definitely going to give this flower to Hinata on Hanami. Bouquets are overrated; they're hard to carry around and hard to keep alive. I think a single flower is less wasteful, easier to take care of and more sentimental a gift than a bunch of flowers jumbled up into one big, wrapped-up, giant stogie-like package._

I arrived home and rushed upstairs to grab my other vase (which was pretty small, but it didn't have to be big to keep one flower alive), came back down with it and planted the flower in it. _That ought to do the trick…well now what do I do? Do I just wait around until Hanami comes? Well, I guess I'll kill time trying to get that fingertip chakra controlling thing down._

I'd managed to hold it for three minutes without getting tired. _Better, but not good enough. _I kept trying for the rest of the day (which, since it was getting late was only the better part of three hours), and the best I ever got without getting tired or breaking a sweat was seven minutes. After that one I called it a night, got myself some ramen-in-a-cup and hit the hay for the day.

*

My first thought was: _Whoa, this place is beautiful!_

I was in a grassy place with Sakura Trees in full bloom all over the place and a stream quietly running under a bridge and to who knows where. A light breeze greeted me where I stood. _I could stay here all day…it's so peaceful here. _No one was around; I was totally alone in this peaceful area…

…or so I thought.

I sat down against a tree and closed my eyes to take in all of the great scents and sounds. Birds were chirping away happily, the breeze was brushing the Sakura Tree's buds against each other making a nice _shhhshhhshhh _sound, the stream trickled along the path to wherever it went…

…and footsteps were coming near me…

My eyes shot open, and Hinata was standing right above me. Startled by her sudden appearance, I did an odd sort of a double-take and got up. "Hi Hinata! What are you doing here?" I asked.

"Well…um…I was looking for you…and…um…I wanted to…to tell you something." She said.

"I'm all ears." I replied. Hinata looked confused, and I said, "It's just a figure of speech meaning I'm listening."

"Oh, okay," she said, "Well…I-I wasn't s-sure how to…um…h-how to t-t-tell you…but I…um…I…well, y-you see…I kind of…um…well…like…you?"

Nothing moved, nothing even made a sound for about five seconds. Then I couldn't hold it in any longer. "Hinata, I love you!" I almost shouted. Hinata turned a deep red, and I tried something I never thought I would try. I leaned down to her eye level, got really close to her face and…

*

"Hey, wake up!" I heard Naruto's voice, "I thought you said you wanted to train with me today!?"

_What the hell just happened? _I looked up at Naruto, who was standing above me next to my bed. _It was…a dream? It was a dream, and Naruto woke me up from it!_

"DAMMIT, NARUTOOOOO!!!" I pulled a Sakura when I grabbed him by the jumpsuit and shook him all around the place yelling, "DO YOU REALIZE HOW GREAT OF A DREAM I WAS HAVING!?!?!?!?!? IT WAS GOING TO BE THE BEST DREAM I'D EVER HAD UNTIL YOU CAME ALONG AND INTERRUPTED IT!!!! AND I WAS JUST ABOUT TO KISS HER!!!!"

"Calm down James, I'm sorry! I didn't know you were in such a great dream! And kiss who?" Naruto asked.

I hadn't realized that I said that out loud until a few seconds after I said it. "No one!" I said quickly.

"Heeeeyyy…you were dreaming about your crush, weren't you?"

"Maybe…wait a sec, how do you know who my crush is?"

"Well it's pretty obvious, I mean, you and Sakura are around each other all the time.

"What the- I'M NOT CRUSHING ON SAKURA!!!"

"Riiight, sure you aren't."

"I'm not crushing on Sakura, I'm crushing on Hi-"I managed to stop myself there with the good sense that I had left of me. "Someone else." I finished.

"Uh huh, and I'm supposed to believe that when you two are always hanging around each other every day?"

"Well, your catch phrase _is _'Believe it', right? So believe it! I hang out with her a lot because she's a really good friend to me."

"Riiight, whatever. Anyways, I thought you wanted to train with me today? No one else wants to; they're all either training with someone else or are out on missions."

"Or in Sakura's case, at the hospital."

"Stalker."

"Am not!"

"Then how do you know where Sakura is all the time?"

"What? I didn't say I knew that!"

"Well, you always seem to know."

"Let's just go and train, forget about all of this. Out you go, Naruto."

"WHAT!? You're kicking me out!? You promised that we'd train today!"

"I haven't forgotten, I just didn't think you'd find me changing clothes so interesting." I said teasingly.

"Oh, oops. Sorry, I'll go now." Naruto said as he walked out and closed the door behind him. I changed into some comfortable training clothes and walked out of my bedroom. I heard the TV downstairs running, and I went down to see why. Naruto was watching TV while he was waiting. "Done changing?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm good to go." I replied.

Naruto had the TV on Cartoon Network and was watching Ed, Edd and Eddy, but he turned it off, got up and said, "I'm ready whenever you are!"

"Then let's go!" I said. We walked out of the house and headed to the field.


	17. Chapter 17: Chidori

**DISCLAIMER: **I don't own Naruto. For any more confessions, report to the random area.

Chapter 17: Chidori

Training with Naruto was uneventful at best. He beat me…again…and again…and again. I needed to do some serious training before I was going to match up to anyone in this village. I was starting to lose hope and started thinking I was always going to be the weakest Ninja in Konoha. Those thoughts, however, only drove me to prevent just that from happening, and I started to work to strengthen myself harder than ever. Hanami was only one day away, and I'd held my fingertip chakra for half an hour straight until breaking down in exhaustion. I laid down on my floor in exhaustion after I did that and thought to myself: _that ought to be good enough. I doubt a single battle would last more than half an hour unless it was a big one. I'll start on aiming for chakra points now; I have about ten of them memorized right now, but I'll need a lot more to even start to do what I want…more like fifty or a hundred. That'll take time…and I don't think there's any way to shorten that._

About that time someone knocked on the door. I got up with some effort, headed to the door and opened it. No one was there. _Hmph…probably a ding-dong-ditch type thing that one of the academy students pulled…oh well. _I closed the door and turned around. "Holy crap!" I yelled startled. I pointed at Kakashi and said, "How the hell did you get in here!?"

"Through the front door, of course!" Kakashi said, "You did open the door for me to come in, right?"

"But I…and you…and how…wha? Okay, you know what, forget about how you got in; that doesn't really matter anyways. What really matters is why you are here." I said.

"Oh, just checking on you," said Kakashi, "You are my student, after all. Oh, what's this?" Kakashi picked up a scroll that was on the floor. "A chakra point layout? Why would you have something like this?"

"Well…I've been trying to learn Gentle Fist Style…and I figured I'd need to memorize a lot of the chakra points to do that."

"No way!" Kakashi said, "You can't do that; you'd need the Byakugan."

"I only need what the Byakugan gives: knowledge as to where the chakra points are in the body. If I memorize a bunch, I'll be able to strike them without Byakugan." I said triumphantly.

"But learning to focus your chakra like that takes years of practice and hard, grueling training. There's no way you'd obtain that kind of control in years of effort."

"Care to bet on that?" I asked Kakashi as I held up a glowing, blue fingertip. "What do you think I've been doing all this time, sitting on my fat ass and watching the tube all day? I've been working overtime with my training every single day since I got here. I've already memorized ten chakra points in the body, and if I wanted I could get you with any one of those ten right now!"

"Try it." Said Kakashi.

"Huh?"

"Try it," he repeated, "Try to hit one of my chakra points."

"Really? You do realize it could damage you pretty bad."

"If it's successful, yes it could."

I was uncertain. I didn't want to send Kakashi to the hospital, but he was telling me to do this, so I rushed towards him, threw one of my fingertips at him, and it hit where his left arm's chakra point was supposed to be.

Kakashi didn't even move a single muscle. No wincing, no flinching, no nothing! I didn't know what to think. _What could've possibly gone wrong? I hit him!_

"You missed the chakra point," Kakashi said plainly, "You forget how small they are. They're only about the size of the top of a nail." _But that's where his point should be!!! _"Anyways, you can practice you're little chakra point game by yourself some other time. I came here to show you a different technique."

"What!? You think what I'm trying to accomplish is just a silly game!? A fantasy that'll never be achived!?"

"Quite plainly, yes." _I can't believe this! My own sensei is telling me this! I don't care what he says, I'm still going to learn how to do this, with his help or without!_

"Fine," I said to him, "I don't need your help learning Gentle Fist Style anyways. You're not even a Hyuga, so what would you know about it?"

"If that's your attitude, then maybe I shouldn't teach you the technique I was going to teach you."

"I never once said I didn't want to learn new techniques. I just said that if you aren't going to help me with what I want, then it's fine by me."

"I don't feel like teaching something so powerful to a snot-nosed brat like you." Kakashi said coldly.

"Okay, I blew up a little on you. I get it. Sorry."

"Hmph…well, I guess I'll teach you," said Kakashi, "But you must understand that this technique is very dangerous and destructive, and it is to be used with the utmost care and responsibility."

"I'll be careful with it." I said.

"You'd better be," said Kakashi, "The last person I taught this to decided to run off with the bad guys. You'd better not do that too."

"I won't, you can bet on that! Besides, running away from here would mean leaving Hinata." I said.

"So you openly admit to having a crush on her?" Kakashi asked.

"To certain people, yes," I replied, "There's no way in hell I'm telling Naruto."

"A wise decision," Kakashi said, "Now then, the technique I'm about to teach you can be very draining on your chakra, but I think you're ready for it. Not to mention that it is a Lightning Style Jutsu, so this should be right up your alley. Here, I'll show you how it's done." Kakashi went out into the backyard all of a sudden. "We're going to need some room for this, and the dummies here that you've set up are perfect."

"Right." I said as I followed Kakashi out back.

"Watch carefully." Kakashi said as he lowered his right hand so that his palm pointed to the ground. He took his other hand and braced it on his right arm, as if to push some powerful force back with only his right hand. "I concentrate all of my chakra into my right hand," Kakashi explained. Kakashi's hand started to glow blue, and in an instant lightning flashed from all sides of his right hand. The power and voltage put onto this thing seemed out of this world. Kakashi suddenly dashed at one of my wooden dummies with his right hand lagging behind, as if he were carrying something heavy in it. He catapulted his right hand into the dummy and shouted, "CHIDORI!!!" Wood connected with lightning fist, and in an instant the dummy was completely incenerated, the floor around where it stood was smoking and charred, and dust and smoke were everywhere.

"Holy shit." I said slowly. _This move is in the Rasengan's league, and it was a lightning move too! I can learn this one, no sweat! _"Let me try that out!" I said to Kakashi.

"Go right ahead," Kakashi said, "It's really not that difficult to execute; it just takes a lot of chakra, that's all.'

"Right," I said, "I can do this." I mimicked Kakashi's movements and focused all of my chakra into my hand. Just as his did, lightning started to appear around my hand, and it felt like I was holding a heavy lightning orb. I rushed to another of my dummies, yelled, "CHIDORI!" and smashed the lightning orb into the dummy. The dummy shattered into about a million and two pieces, and sparks flew everywhere. It wasn't reduced to sawdust like how Kakashi did, but it was nevertheless extremely effective.

"For a first try," Kakashi started, "that was quite impressive. Anyone would be able to tell that you've learned to harness other lightning style Jutsu for a while now, and working your way up like that really pays off. Train with that for a few months and you might be able to reduce one of those dummies into a pile of dust just like me. I'm very impressed."

"Thanks," I said, "It didn't feel like it drained that much out of me."

"That's because it hasn't hit you quite yet, but once it does, you'll know." Kakashi said

"Really?" I asked, "Shouldn't it have an immediate effect just like the rest…oh whoa…ohhhhh, I feel dizzy and tired all of a sudden."

"See what I mean?" Kakashi asked.

"Yeah, I gotcha." I said to him. I felt exhausted, I felt like I'd been training all day. Wait a sec…I was training all day. But you get the picture; I was freakin' tired after that blast.

"I must warn you," Kakashi said, "Trying to go past your chakra limit can result in self-harming effects. In rare cases, it may even lead to death."

That was when I realized that this was serious stuff he was entrusting me with. "I'll be very careful to use it only during an emergency or when I'm training. I know my limits, so I'll be fine in the self-harming department."

"I hope so, for your own sake," said Kakashi, "Besides, you wouldn't overdo it to that point because that means you wouldn't be able to see Hinata."

"Aww, c'mon Kakashi-sensei! It's not THAT bad!" I lied; it was THAT bad.

"You really think I never noticed you staring at her every single mission you and her have together?" Kakashi asked, "You honestly think I didn't know in the first place? I'm not that stupid, you know. It's gotten so bad for you that you privately nicknamed her "My Sunflower", and that's just gotten to the point where it could be considered pathetic."

"HEY!!! How did you know about that!?" I yelled, "That was supposed to be a secret only I knew about!!!"

"Oh Hinata, My Sunflower" Kakashi imitated me, "There is no one more fair and beautiful than you!"

"Kakashi-sensei!" I said slowly, gritting my teeth and forcing the 'sensei' part, "You're pushing it!"

"Oh, come on!" Kakashi said cheerfully, "I was only teasing you!"

"Yeah, I know," I said, "I can't believe you knew about that, though!"

"And I just might let a little something slip during Hanami tomorrow!" Kakashi said evily.

"YOU WOULDN'T!!!" I yelled, "I'LL BUST YOUR ASS TO KINGDOM COME IF I FIND OUT YOU DID ANYTHING LIKE THAT, SENSEI OR NOT!!!"

"Calm down," Kakashi said, chuckling, "I was just kidding!"

"You'd better be!" I said.

*

After a few more teasings administered by Kakashi, he left to do other things, saying, "I want to go talk to some of the other Jonin about some rumors going about. I'll see you later."

"You too, Kakashi-sensei."

Right before Kakashi poofed away in smoke, he said quickly, "Good luck with Hinata; you're going to need it," and before I got the chance to say anything back, he poofed away.

"Tch, freakin' Kakashi." I said to myself as I went back inside. It was getting late, and I didn't want to stay up too late for fear of acting and feeling like the living dead during Hanami, so I turned in for that day with high hopes for tomorrow.


	18. Chapter 18: Those Tiny Details

**DISCLAIMER: **I may not own Naruto, but I will once I become ruler of the universe!!! ...Actually, I'm too lazy to do that. Nevermind, I don't own Naruto!  
**Author's Note: **After a few weeks I finally came back to this story. Sorry it took so long, that's all!

Chapter 18: Those Tiny Details

EEP! EEP! EEP! EEP! My alarm clock rang that familiar, yet ever so annoying noise at 10:00. I didn't want to get up at all; I was still feeling tired and I was just having a good dream too. Of course, in this dream I got no closer to kissing Hinata than I did in my previous dream. _Damn alarm clock…I should bust it right here! _I didn't bust it, though. Instead I just flipped the switch to off and got up feeling like the living dead, as I always do when I first get up. I made myself some coffee, prepared a cup of ramen and had my breakfast. After that I went to take a shower, and only after I took the shower I realized that today was the day Hanami would take place. _Alright, so after I get dressed I'll head down to…oh shit…I don't know where the party'll be taking place!!! Let's see…Sakura said that there would be four sections, and that one of them would be reserved for Genin…but I don't know where the four sections are even located! I don't know where the cherry blossom trees even are!_

I went into a mild panic and rushed to get dressed. I picked out my clothes quickly, got dressed, grabbed my sweater-jacket and started to run towards Sakura's House. _Sakura should know, right!? Damn, I don't even know when it starts! It could've started already! No, no it couldn't have, not this early. She must be still at her house getting ready, right? Besides, it is Sakura that I'm going with…and I doubt she'd leave just like that without telling me first._

I got to her house and knocked on the door. Sakura's mom opened the door and said, "Oh, hello James! What brings you here?"

"I just realized that I didn't know when or where Hanami started!" I said rather loudly, "Sakura told me about the party, but she didn't give me any specifics!"

"Really?" Mrs. Haruno asked, "It's starts at noon and goes up until 2:00, and it's at the Cherry Blossom Grove. You know, by that stream that flows under the bridge. It's a nice, peaceful grassy area."

"Wait a sec," I started, "You mean to tell me that the party only lasts two hours?"

"Oh, my mistake," replied Mrs. Haruno, "I meant until 2:00 a.m."

"…that's a long party." I said after a while.

"Hey Mom!" Sakura's voice yelled from inside,"Who's that you're talking to?"

"It's James!" Mrs. Haruno called back.

"Oh sh- I mean oh crap! I'll be down in a minute, James!" called Sakura.

"She's just getting dressed, that's all." Said Mrs. Haruno, "If you'd like you can come in for a little bit."

"Thanks!" I replied as I walked into Sakura's house. Within moments Sakura rushed down the stairs in a hurry. "Whoa, what's the rush?" I asked, "The party's not until noon, right? It's only 10:16!"

"Yeah, I know," Sakura replied, "But I just didn't want to keep you waiting, that's all!"

"Nuff said!"

"Would you like to stay here until we head out?" Sakura asked.

"Sure, why not!" I said, "It's not like I have anything better to do until then." I walked in and closed the door behind me. Sakura led me into her living room, which was furnished very neatly and smelled like cherry blossoms (appropriate, huh?) If there was ever a bug that crawled into this place, it probably had a very short life, because the entire house seemed spotless.

"Wow, this place is really clean!" I said to Sakura.

"Once you see Naruto's Place, you'll think this place is even cleaner!" she replied good-humoredly.

"Been there, done that!" I said, "I know exactly what you mean. Seriously, I had half a mind to clean the place myself!"

"Haha!!! I know how you feel!" Sakura said.

"So when do we plan on heading out?"

"Oh…somewhere around 11:00, 11:30 maybe."

"That early?"

"All of the good seats are taken after then pretty much."

"Good seats? For what?" I asked.

"What, you don't know?" Sakura inquired.

"Apparently not, since I just asked!" I teased.

I think the tease went over Sakura's head, because she just kept going on as if nothing was said. "Why, for the light show of course!"

When I heard this, my ears instantly felt like they were standing erect and I was thoroughly interested in this "light show" business. "Really?" I asked, "The family on my dad's side is – was – a long line of famous light show performers! I got to see my grandpa and my dad perform. I don't remember much because I was young – about five, I'm guessing – but I remember liking it a lot!"

"That's pretty interesting." Sakura replied.

"Do you happen to know who it is that's performing the light show?" I asked feverishly.

"I believe he's a distant relative of the Kurama Clan, a clan of powerful Genjutsu users. His show is based entirely on Genjutsu, and he does it every year."

"Really?" I asked, "Hmm…never heard of Kurama before."

"No surprise there," Sakura said, "It's native to Konoha."

"Still, my family line used Genjutsu for their shows too," I said, "Eh, maybe it's just a coincidence. Nevertheless, I'll want a front seat to that!"

"He always thinks of something different each year to put out," Sakura said, "Sometimes he draws things in the air, sometimes he does things that interact with the crowd, all kinds of cool stuff!"

"Uh, Sakura?" I said.

"What?"

"It's 11:15, just to let you know."

"Oh crap, I've got to get ready!"

"But I thought you said you weren't dressing up!"

"I'm not!" Sakura called as she ascended the stairs.

I sighed and said, "Girls…always concerned with their looks."

After about ten minutes, Sakura came downstairs again.

"Sakura!" I said, "You look virtually the same as when you went up!"

"Yes James, I know you think so. But boys don't catch those tiny details that girls catch."

"So are you trying to impress a girl or something?"

"What- NO!!!"

"I get it! You're trying to impress Ino!"

"HELL NO!!!"

"Then if you say guys don't catch "Those Tiny Details" that girls catch, who are you trying to impress?" I asked

"I-well-um-I JUST LIKE IT THE WAY IT IS, OKAY!?!?!?" Sakura shouted suddenly, "Don't question my logic!"

_Common sense triumphs again…but I won't rub it into her face. I'm too nice for that._

"Yeah, alright, let's just drop it!" I said with a smile, "I didn't mean anything by it!"

"You better not have!" Sakura said irritably.

_Sheesh…maybe I'm too nice for my own good!_

"I don't really know the way to the Cherry Blossom Grove, so you'll have to lead the way. By the way, is your mom or dad coming?"

"Nah," Sakura replied, "They say that they don't like the commotion, which is "too social" for them, but I know that the real reason is so they can have the entire day to themselves and do whatever they want when I'm not around."

"…alright then, whatever works!" I said, not really knowing what to think of that, "Let's go!"

We left the house, on our way to Hanami.


	19. Chapter 19: Hanami Morning

Chapter 19: Hanami - Morning

"Well, here we are!" Sakura said excitedly. We'd finally arrived to the area where the Hanami party would be taking place.

I was dumbfounded as I looked upon what seemed to be the very same grassy place with Sakura Trees all over from my dreams. Even the little stream was there! Of course, other people were present, tables were set up, picnic blankets were spread out on the grass and stands for food and drink were set up as well, with some other spots reserved for who knows what. I saw how each section was loosely divided by ninja rank, and I say loosely because there were many people of different ranks talking to each other. I guessed that they tried to separate the groups so that it would be a little more organized, but it didn't seem like anyone really cared. There was also a stage set up in the middle of the premise, which I guessed was going to be for the Light-Show later on.

"Not much is set up yet because it's so early," Sakura said, "Most of the fun games and such get going at about 2:00 or 3:00, and until then it's pretty much hanging out with friends and having a bite to eat."

"Sounds good to me," I said, "But I do have to warn you about one thing…"

"What's that?" Sakura asked.

"I'm not sure if it'll happen, but when I'm at a party, I sometimes cut loose."

"Well isn't that what parties are for kind of?" Sakura asked, seeming confused.

"No, not like that," I said, "I mean majorly cut loose. Don't be surprised to see me acting crazier than Naruto at some point of the day."

"As long as you don't start stripping or anything like that."

"Who the hell do you think I am!?!? When I said "cut loose" I DIDN'T mean in an erotic way! I wouldn't do anything like that, trust me."

"Especially not in front of Hinata!" Sakura teased.

"Aww man…you too Sakura?"

"Me too what?"

"Teasing me? Kakashi teased me about it really badly yesterday!"

"Well to be honest, you kind of asked for it! Speaking of which, I've received info from a reliable source that tells me that you privately nicknamed Hinata "My Sunflower". What do you have to say to that, hmm?"

Fire rose up in my belly as I replied, "I've only got one thing to say to that."

"And?" Sakura inquired.

I grinned as I said, "Kakashi is going to die!"

Sakura laughed and said, "NOW do you know why I said you've been asking for it!?"

"Yes, yes! I know already!" I said still grinning. It may not seem like it at first, but for some reason I _like _to be teased like this!

"HEEEYYYY!!! SAKURA!!! JAMES!!!" someone called, "OVER HEEEEEEEREE!!!"

I turned around to see who was calling, though I could tell by the voice that it was Naruto. Finding out where he was turned out to be a whole different story. Sakura and I did a couple of 360 sweeps around the place, but didn't find any Naruto. "You'd think he would be easy to spot, with his bright orange jumpsuit!"

"You'd think so…" was all Sakura said.

"OIIIIII!!! UP HERE YOU TWO LOVEBIRDS!!!" yelled Naruto.

I looked up and found that Naruto was at the top of the a fairly tall Sakura Tree. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING UP THERE!?!?!?" I had to shout.

"HANGING OUT! WHAT ELSE?" _Wow…that was cheesy…wait a sec – brain just processed that he called Sakura and I lovebirds! That bastard!_

"YOU'RE GONNA GET IT FOR THAT LOVEBIRDS COMMENT!!! I'M COMING UP THERE RIGHT NO-" and I never got the chance to finish before Sakura blasted past me, rampaged up the tree, got to the top and knocked Naruto off saying, "That's what you get for calling us lovebirds!!!!"

"WHOOOOOAAAAA!!!" Naruto yelled as he fell from the tree. _Oh crap, he's not going to make it! _But, surprisingly enough, he flipped over and landed on his feet easily. He turned around to me and said, "Hehe, sorry! Couldn't resist!"

Now I knew how Sakura felt. I grabbed Naruto by the collar and shook him around the entire place like when he woke me up before saying, "COULDN'T RESIST!?!? THAT'S YOUR EXCUSE!?!? YOU COULDN'T RESIST!?!? YOU BASTARD, I SHOULD KICK YOU ACROSS KONOHA RIGHT NOW!!!"

"C'mon man," said Naruto, "I was only kidding! I mean, Sakura's really cute! I can see why you like her so mu-"

"GET IT THROUGH THAT THICK SKULL OF YOURS!!! I DON'T LIKE HER LIKE THAT!!!"

"Oh Riiight, that's why I see you and her together so much. That's why I see you heading to her house so often. That's why I-

"Naruto…" I said almost viciously, "you are really, REALLY pushing it. The reason why I'm with her so much is because she's the first Genin here I ever met, and I've only been to her house –what – three times total?"

"Okay, okay! I'll stop! I'm sorry."

"Eh, don't worry about me; Sakura is much less forgiving than I am."

Right on cue, Sakura came from behind Naruto and whacked him upside the head. "That's what you get!!!" she said to him.

I laughed and said "Told ya so!!!"

"Yeah, I see that now" Naruto said.

"Haha! Well, I'm gonna go get something to eat; probably ramen. You coming Naruto?" I asked him.

"RAMEN!?!?" Naruto instantly got up and said, "Let's go!" We walked over to the food stand, where there were all kinds of foods I'd never seen before. And this food stand was huge too!

"It's a buffet, so get what you want!" said the cook.

"Mmm, thank you!" I said as I scooped some ramen into a bowl that I got from the counter. I looked over and saw Naruto eating the ramen in his bowl right there in front of the stand. "Honestly Naruto, you can't even just go to a table and eat that or something? You have to eat it right there?"

"Well," started Naruto with his mouth full, "I'd have to keep coming back and forth if I was to eat over there. Right here I can just eat, refill when empty, and repeat! Believe it; it's easier for me this way!"

"Now I know your appetite can be a big one Naruto," said the cook, "And I know how much you like ramen, so I took it upon myself to have a special bowl prepared for you!" The Cook leaned down behind the counter and pulled a freakin' huge bowl of ramen up from there. Naruto's eyes were practically glistening with delight at the mere sight of this monstrous bowl full of nothing but ramen.

"Am I even allowed to touch this?" he asked.

"Well of course! I prepared it for you; so it's all yours for the taking! You can carry the bowl to the table, grab a spoon and go to work! This bowl is has about ten servings of ramen in it, so it should do for you."

"Wow…" Naruto just stared at the bowl.

"Well are you going to marvel at its murky liquid all day or are you actually going to eat the damn thing?" I asked Naruto.

"Umm…I might need help carrying this thing." Naruto said.

"I'll help you." I said. We each got on one side of the bowl and counted aloud, "One, Two, Three, HEAVE!!!" We picked up the extremely heavy bowl of ramen and walked towards the nearest table.

"Carful you don't spill any!" said Naruto. We got to the table and heaved it onto the table. "Ahh, finally! Now I can dig in!!!" And with that, Naruto started on his mega-bowl of ramen. I wasn't particularly hungry at the time; I'd had breakfast late that day.

I didn't really have anything to do, so my mind did what it did best when it has nothing to do: wander aimlessly. And of course, the first thought I had was, _I wonder where Hinata is…_

I checked my clock, and it was now 12:02. Tsunade got up on the stage and yelled, "Attention everyone!" Within about five seconds, everyone was quiet. I hadn't noticed how many people got there in so short of time; I'd only gotten there at about 11:30, and it was almost empty, but now it was fairly full.

Tsunade spoke, "I welcome you to the annual Hanami Festival of Konoha! Starting now, the party officially begins!"


	20. Chapter 20: Hanami Afternoon

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Naruto. Is it really necisarry to say that over and over and over and over and...(x1,000,000) times in every single chapter!?!? I think people get the picture!**

Chapter 20: Hanami – Afternoon

It was now somewhere around 1:00. An hour had passed since Tsunade gave her…introduction; I guess you could call it. It really wasn't much of an intro on her part; she just said let the party begin, and just that happened. It started getting really crowded, more events were being held such as jutsu contests, more people I knew showed up as well as people I didn't. Of course, my very first natural instinct was to keep an eye out for Hinata at all times, but she hadn't come yet. I was looking around for her when Naruto said, "Hey! Let's go to the Jutsu Contest! Bet I can beat you at it!"

"Are you asking me to enter the contest?" I asked.

"Believe it!" Naruto said with a huge grin, "All you've got to do is show off your jutsu to the crowd, and whatever looks coolest and is most impressive gets first prize!"

"Do you get anything if you get first prize?"

"Sure, you get bragging rights! That's about it though…it's pretty much for fun and for showing off!"

I liked the sound of this. These people wouldn't really be competing for anything big, and it would probably be more lax than your average competition, and since I was in my taking-a-risk mood, I replied, "Sure, why not? Let's go sign up!"

"Okay! Follow me!" said Naruto as he walked off. I followed, and we came to a table that was set up in the middle of the grass. "We wanna get into the Jutsu contest!" Naruto said to the person at the table.

"Alright then, just register by signing here." Said the person at the table as he handed a piece of paper and a pen to each of us. We both signed our names, and the table person afterwards took the papers and said, "You two can wait over there with the rest of them until the contest begins. It'll be about five minutes."

"Hahaha, thanks!" Naruto said as he ran off to the group that was set aside for the contest. I said thanks as well and went with Naruto.

There were three other people there: Tenten, and two other people I didn't recognize. One of them had red hair and was sitting down while carrying a large gourd on his back, while the other one had a freakin' huge fan.

"Hi Tenten," I said to her, "Been doing alright lately?"

"Oh yeah, same old stuff. Training with Neji a lot." She replied.

"Yup, same old stuff here too. Just flat out training a lot to catch up to everyone else."

"I hope you didn't train yourself so much that you don't have anything left for the Jutsu Competition."

"Nah, I try not to overwork myself. And even when I do, I usually recover fast." I eyed the guy with the gourd on his back and the girl with the fan that was with him. I leaned over towards Tenten, and so only she could hear I said, "Who are those two over there?"

"They're from the Sand Village," Tenten replied, "The one with the gourd is named Gaara, and the blonde girl is Temari. They're both visiting here for Hanami, as well as Kankuro who is their third in the squad. I don't know where he is though…"

"Sand village eh?" I said more to myself than anyone else, "Might as well introduce myself." I walked up to the two Sand Villagers. The blonde girl looked at me, and I said, "Hello, my name is James. I don't believe we have met before, so I thought I'd introduce myself!"

The blonde girl with the fan spoke up first, "I'm Temari," she said. She pointed to the Gourd Guy and said, "That's Gaara." Gaara looked up from where he was sitting and looked at me, and as soon as I saw his eyes I knew more to him than most other people did at first sight. His eyes told it all – this guy had gone through hell and then some. I could easily tell. His hardened look on the exterior hid a very soft one not too far beneath, though. Of course, that didn't change the way I approached him –I did what I would have done if any other person was in his place. I didn't alter the way I acted just because of that.

Then he spoke. "What do you want?" he said to me.

"Want?" I asked, "All I wanted was to say hi and introduce myself, silly! What did you expect, for me to ask to borrow some money or something?" The two just stared at me blankly. "It was a joke, never mind…" I said.

Gaara narrowed his eyes at me and said, "You have no fear of me whatsoever? That is odd…"

"Why should I fear you?" I asked, "Doesn't seem like there's any reason to, as far as I can see."

"I have had people that didn't even know of me before run from me just because of the way I am. Yet you do not waver the slightest? Are you truly more difficult to scare away than the others, or are you just unaware?" Gaara asked.

Now how was I supposed to answer that? Nevertheless, I did somehow. I said "Well, why would I need to be aware of anything about you if you said that others were not? Besides, I see no reason to fear you whatsoever."

Gaara looked at me oddly, looked away and said, "You really are…different…that's for sure."

I grinned and said good-humoredly, "Hey, what's that supposed to mean!?"

Just then a loud bell rang out signaling the start of the contest. "OI!" the person running the table shouted at all of us, "Time for the contest! Temari, you get up there first!" Temari walked onto the clearing, which was pretty much a grassy stage. People were sitting on the grass waiting for the contest performance, but not everyone attended. Temari took her fan, held it up straight pointing into the sky, and opened it. Cherry Blossom petals came blasting out when she opened the fan, and now they were everywhere in the air. Temari then held the fan behind her as if charging up for something, swung the fan yelling, "WIND SCYTHE JUTSU!!!" and cut every single cherry blossom cleanly in half just with air. Cherry blossom petals were fluttering all over the place spectacularly, and the crowd roared wildly with applause. _That was pretty cool looking, I have to admit! _I thought to myself, and I applauded as well.

Naruto smirked and said, "I can do way better than that, believe it!"

Temari, hearing Naruto say that, said, "Oh really? I'd like to see you try!"

"Naruto! You're up next!" said the table runner.

"It looks like you're gonna get your chance!" I said to Naruto, "Give it your all!"

"Believe it!" Naruto said with a grin, and then walked to the stage. "Shadowclone Jutsu!!!" he yelled as he made the hand sign. About 20 or so Narutos appeared out of nowhere. _Oh boy, what's gonna happen here? _I thought. One of the Narutos jumped on the real Naruto and piggybacked, and another Naruto did the same to the other two, and so on, making a huge Naruto tower in the end. The two Narutos at the top made a Rasengan, which he threw up into the sky. The Rasengan exploded high above the air, creating a brilliant mini light show. Then all 20 or so Narutos started to tip backwards, and I thought they were falling, when in fact they caught themselves and flipped over, making a huge Naruto tower upside down style. _That was amazing!!! _I thought as I wildly applauded with the rest of the crowd. The top Naruto jumped off and landed on his feet, and the next one afterwards, and so on and so forth until all of them were off. Naruto dismissed the clones, and everyone wildly applauded again.

"How…the heck…did you do that?" I asked Naruto.

"Hehe, I knew the contest was coming, so I decided to practice that routine!" Naruto replied

"Not bad at all Naruto," said Tenten, "Not bad at all."

"Oi!" the table runner yelled, "Tenten! You're up!" Tenten didn't say a word, she just went onto the grassy clearing we all called a stage. The first thing she did was pull out a few scrolls, and then she started twirling them around like a ballerina. She threw the scrolls into the air, and the next thing you knew tons of Shuriken were bursting out of the scrolls like there was no tomorrow. Somehow Tenten was manipulating them in mid-air, causing them to spin in place and form a shuriken cocoon around her entire body. As a finale, Tenten sent all of the shuriken cocooned around her flying straight up into the air (the glittery effect the Shuriken made against the sun was very cool looking), the shuriken came back down and struck the floor standing erectly forming multiple circles of Shuriken on the ground around Tenten. The crowd went practically ballistic as Tenten dismissed all of her summoned shuriken with a poof of smoke and walked off stage.

Three things were going through my mind at the same time:

_Wow…that was a really cool performance Tenten put on!!!_

_Please let me not be last, PLEASE let me not be last!!! _ (I hate being last when it comes to competitions, as I also hate being first. I like the middle ground, okay!?)

_Where's Hinata?_ _I don't see her anywhere!!!_

I hung my head in disdain when I heard the table runner call out, "Gaara, you're up!", and Gaara went to the stage. I wondered why someone like him would partake in something like this – he didn't seem like the kind of person that would enter a contest.

Gaara came up to the grassy stage. He didn't even make a hand sign when sand came from out of nowhere floating and encircling around him in a spiral fashion. While the sand was spinning, his head turned to look at us – the rest of the competitors. He gave an odd look to me, and then made the sand explode in all directions somehow not harming the crowd. He then got off stage. I was confused for a moment – it was cool looking, but so short! I got the distinct feeling that he didn't care about winning this thing at all.

"James, you're up last!" called the table runner.

When I got up on the stage I saw Hinata in the crowd waving politely. Now I was really, really, REALLY nervous – almost to the point of being scared. My nerves wracked like they never had before, and it was obvious that the others had practiced a lot and I hadn't, so I was really scared of totally blowing this. Hinata was in the stage, I didn't prepare for this at all, and I didn't even know what I was gonna DO for that matter…

…and to top it all off, I hated going last.


	21. Chapter 21: My Turn

_**Chapter 21: My Turn**_

I didn't know what the hell to do. I just completely froze. I was just standing there.

First of all, the anticipation that built up during the last four people was like having mental gas bloating. That's why I hate going last so much.

Secondly, I hadn't practiced for this at all. The others had been waiting to do their routine and probably did it over and over again for all I knew, and I hadn't done a thing.

Thirdly, I didn't even know what the hell I was going to do in the first place. Probably something to do with lightning, but I really had no idea how this was going to turn up.

And finally, Hinata was in the crowd. Somehow she'd gotten a front spot apparently too, so I could see her just fine. That alone unleashed hell upon my mental status. What if I totally mess up and make a fool out of myself in front of Hinata? What would she think of me then?

Five seconds that felt like five hours passed. I still hadn't figured out what I was gonna do. I felt my face getting hotter by the millisecond. People were expecting SOMETHING. I thought about maybe just giving up – forfeiting. I seriously considered it too.

Two more seconds passed. I wasn't forfeiting. Even if I did completely mess up, it would be better than just giving up.

Three more seconds passed. I was thinking of something…I thought I might have something! _Think James, what do you see commonly in a talent show? C'mon! Think circus! Think amusement park! Think SOMETHING for fuck's sake!!!_

Five more seconds passed, and I finally got an idea. I made the hand sign for the Lightning Paralysis Jutsu, which charged my hands with electricity. Then, with the hands still charged I made a sigh for the Lightning Hurl Jutsu, which conjured up a small ball of non-lethal lightning. I needed my hands in Lightning Paralysis mode because I needed to keep the ball charged so it wouldn't fade out. I started juggling the single Lightning ball.

It wasn't all that impressive…yet…

While the Lightning ball was in mid-air I quickly made a sign to conjure up another Lightning ball, and I started juggling two at a time. Then I made another one. And another one. And another one. I ended up making and juggling 10 total lightning balls at the same time, and they were going way up high in the air because there were so many of them. All 10 of them were sparkling brilliantly as they moved in a fluid circle in mid-air. I amped up the voltage on my hands, in turn charging the balls making them sparkle brilliantly even more.

___Was that a red spark I just saw? _I faintly thought. I thought I saw a red one, which would have been unusual because all of my sparks were blue with some occasional green in there too. I dismissed it as a figment of my imagination or something.

I was ecstatic, beaming the entire time! I was so happy that I'd actually just gotten this idea in the first place, never mind actually being able to execute it better than I was expecting!

I looked down at the crowd while juggling the balls of lightning practically flawlessly, and I looked at Hinata. Right into her eyes. Those beautiful, crazily gorgeous eyes. It was then that I knew that I had to do something drastic to impress her right then and there or else I wouldn't be able to live with myself (of course, at the time that was probably just the adrenaline talking to me). I quickly thought up a finale that could very easily be dangerous, but I did it anyways just because it would be impressive and chances were this was the only time I would ever be able to do something like THIS in front of an entire crowd, especially with Hinata in it.

_This one's for you Hinata! _I thought. Yes, I actually THOUGHT that.

I concentrated all of my remaining chakra to the inside of my throat and mouth. If I was gonna do this, I had to soon because I was quickly running out of chakra. I looked up to where the lightning orbs were making an arch in mid-air, altered the direction where the orbs were falling and opened my mouth.

One lightning orb down the mouth. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. At Seven I was afraid I wouldn't have enough room. Eight, and I was really hoping my gag reflux was being nullified long enough by the chakra. Nine down. Finally, the Tenth lightning orb went down my mouth and to the top of my throat, which was clogged by the rest of the orbs. Yes, the orbs were ALL down my throat, from bottom to top. I was holding my breath the entire time – I had to or else I would inhale those shockers! And that wouldn't be good, needless to say.

I paused for half a second, forgetting what I was gonna do just from the pure thrill and adrenaline rush that I was experiencing. Then I remembered, along with realizing that I didn't have much left in me at all. I had to do this NOW.

I exhaled as hard as I could. Low and behold, I was breathing Lightning! The ten orbs had all fused into a huge thing of electric chakra that when I exhaled it spewed out completely. And it was freakin' cool looking too! I was just blasting lightning from my throat like there was no tomorrow, a little like a ten-second long burp of lightning.

Finally, I was done lightning burping. The crowd was totally silent for about five seconds – I don't think they knew what to make of what just happened. It took me starting to leave the stage when someone actually clicked the "audience" button on all of them, and the next thing I knew I was overwhelmed with applause. I mean, these people were practically going berserk. I bowed, exhausted really, and then left the stage. I stole a glance at Hinata, who was also clapping pretty hard and looked positively thrilled.

Seeing as though I had no practice at that whatsoever when the others did, I hated going last, what I did was totally made up as I went AND it looked like I thoroughly impressed Hinata, I was crazy with happiness for the next few hours. Winning 1st was just a bonus, though it didn't really mean much to me.

After all, it WAS only for "bragging rights". Though after all of that, I REALLY needed a drink of water pretty damn bad.


	22. Chapter 22: Deal of the Night

_**Chapter 22: Deal of the Night**_

"Ugh…" I croaked as I attempted to breathe. That drastic trick that I pulled in the Jutsu Competition, while it may have done a lot of cool things, also had drawbacks as well. For example, my throat was sore and dry for a good hour and a half after I did that, and I was pretty much exhausted for that time too. Though, as always, my energy recovered quickly, and around 5:00 p.m. I was back up and feeling as good as new. Sure it took me a little less than three hours, but anyone else would have been done for the entire day after something like that!

I was pretty much just either sitting or lying on the ground for those three hours. I think I dozed off at one point – I'm not sure – but the point is I barely moved at all in that time. Sakura, being the medical ninja-in-training she was, recommended to me to go and see a professional medical ninja to get my throat checked out, but I declined politely saying, "I'll be fine, don't worry! I'll be back up in no time, just you watch!"

Even Naruto thought I was crazy to do something so drastic and dangerous. "You could've gotten yourself killed if you swallowed any one of those!!!" he yelled at me at one point.

"Yeah yeah, I know," I replied, "but I couldn't help it okay!? I wasn't thinking at all!"

"And you did it all just to impress Sakura too!" Naruto said, "I could see it in your eyes when you were up there! Believe it!"

"Ugh…for the last time Naruto, I don't like Sakura that way!" I said to him.

"Riiiiiight, we all know that much!" Naruto said sarcastically.

"Okay really, Sakura, tell him that I like someone else! Cause I do, and you know who it is too!"

"Should I tell him who?" Sakura asked.

"Wha- HELL NO!!!" I replied hotly, "Are you out of your mind!?!?"

"Gosh, I was just asking!" Sakura said. She turned to Naruto and said, "But yes, James does like someone else. You might be too oblivious to see it, but it's really pretty damn obvious!"

"HEY!!!" Naruto and I shouted at the same time. "I'm not THAT oblivious!" Naruto said at the exact same time I said, "I'm not THAT obvious!"

Sakura just put her hand on her forehead and shook her head back and forth in the "these guys are hopeless" fashion and just walked away.

Of course a few hours later I was up and everywhere again, good as new. It was getting to be in the evening now, around 6:00, and I spotted Tsunade playing a game of poker with a few others. It looked like they were dealing a new hand, so I quickly came in and asked, "Mind if I join in? I'm pretty good at this game."

Tsunade looked at me with a "What the hell do you think you're doing!?" expression on her face, and a few of the other players stifled laughs. One of them said, "But you're just a kid!"

"So?" I replied.

"The way we're playing, you actually bet things," Tsunade said, "If you want to play, you have to have something to bet with. Be it money or other valued possessions. This isn't a game for fun – this one's the real deal."

I smirked and replied, "I was fully aware of that." Fortunately for me, I was aware that this was coming in Hanami, so I bought a little something in advance just in case I decided to play, and I carried a little extra cash on me as well. I sat down criss-cross in an open spot and said, "Deal me some!"

"This kid's crazy!" one of the guys said, "He doesn't even know what he's doing here!"

"Crazy maybe," Tsunade replied, "But I'm pretty sure this one knows what he's getting into. And if he doesn't, well that's his loss now isn't it?"

"Hell-o!?" I said, "Are we just gonna sit here yapping all day or is someone gonna deal!?"

Tsunade chuckled and replied, "Fine, I'll deal." She took the cards and dealt away.

We were 45 minutes into playing, and I had gotten a good amount of money on my side. Not the highest, but higher than what I'd started out with. Tsunade dealt me and everyone else cards.

"Five." One of them said as they put their five dollars in the pot. I picked my cards up. 2, 3, 4, and 5 of hearts, but a 9 of spades. _Damn…this hand'll suck if I don't get a 6 or a heart… _

"I'll see your five and raise you five more." I said as I put my five in the pot. There was now 10 total in the pot.

One of the guys took of his ring and put it in the pot. "I'll bet my Emerald-imbued ring. I'm sick of waiting for people to really up the ante, so I'm gonna do it myself!"

My eyes were wide as hell. _Holy crap…that looks really cool! If I can get that…oh my god…I could give it to Hinata if I ask her to marry me!!! Whoa whoa whoa, slow down there James, you've barely even gotten to know her, you haven't even had the balls to ask her out yet, and you're already thinking about marrying her!? _Apparently my face was contorting all kinds of ways, because everyone was looking at me like I was crazy. I calmed down and took a look at that ring again. _Still…even if it's not marrying, it's a really cool looking ring, emerald is my favorite gemstone of all time AND I could give it to Hinata – marrying or no. Yeah…I gotta win this thing, and then give it to Hinata!!! But if this guy's willing to bet something this valuable, he's gotta have something good in his hand…well that decides what I'm going to get rid of._

Tsunade took off a golden bangle she was wearing and threw it in the pot. "There, that's my bet." Then I realized I had to throw something in there too. _Good thing I prepared for this…_ I reached into my pocket and pulled out a flawless white pearl that I always kept with me for good luck, and threw it in. I was feeling lucky.

Everyone else threw a piece of jewelry – mostly rings and pendants – into the pot. This one had some huge value to it. Now it was time to get rid of the cards. _The only way I'll ever have a chance at beating that guy is if I get something decent to high power, which means at this point I'm going for a Straight._ I put my 9 of Spades to the side and said, "Deal me one." The dealer did just that, and I looked at the card and freaked out on the inside while somehow holding my calm composure on the outside. I just got a 6 of hearts, which made my hand a straight flush! No one can beat that unless they had a Royal Flush, which was not likely at ALL. To get a Royal Flush, you had to have Ace, King, Queen, Jack and 10 of ALL same suits, and that was extremely rare. In other words, it wasn't gonna happen. I pretty much had the highest hand possible. That emerald ring was as good as Hinata's!

I was very calm on the outside though. Actually, I feigned depression – faking my opponents out with false emotions is one of my most favorite things to do in poker. Not that it mattered anyways; I had the highest hand realistically possible.

"Time to lay them out." The dealer said. At that, the person to the left of Tsunade unfolded his hand saying "Three of a kind.

It went clockwise from there. I was sitting to the right of Tsunade, so I would be the second to last to reveal my hand. Tsunade would be last.

"Flush."

"Pair."

"Full house."

"Full house."

The person who gave the emerald ring up put his cards down confidently and said, "Four of a kind!" That is the next highest ranking hand behind Straight Flush, and I could see why he was willing to bet so much.

A couple of others put theirs down with nothing special, and then it was my turn. "I have…" I paused for a moment, then put my cards down and said, "A straight flush." In a very calm manner.

No one said a word for a few seconds. Then the guy that had gotten rid of his emerald ring yelled, "DAMMIT!!! NO WAY!!! I've been beaten by some kid!?!?"

Tsunade calmly put revealed her hand saying, "Royal Flush."

My eyes were wide. _No…freakin…way…she got a Royal Flush!? _"Seriously?" I asked.

"Take a look for yourself." Tsunade said. I did just that, and low and behold there was the Ace, King, Queen, Jack and 10 of Spades in her hand.

"Well I'll be damned…" said the guy who once had the Emerald Ring very slowly.

I was just plain shocked. I thought I had it. I was so close! THAT DAMN CLOSE!!! And now because of a Royal Flush against practically ALL odds, I've lost my chances at giving the emerald ring to Hinata AND my lucky pearl. I didn't say anything. I couldn't. I was so confident that I would get those – I don't think me losing when I was so close was very easy for my mind to register at all. After a few minutes of silence I got up, said, "Thanks, I'm done playing now," and walked away.

A few seconds after I had left I overheard Tsunade saying to them, "I think that'll be all for me too," and she grabbed a bag to put all of her winnings in. I just kept walking, when I realized she was following me. I let her for a few minutes, and then I just got fed up with it. I turned around on her and said, "If you just want to gloat that you got a Royal Flush, I'm really not in the mood!"

Tsunade gave me a surprised look and said, "I wasn't planning to do anything of the sort."

I looked at her for a few minutes, and then said, "Okay then…so what do you want?" She tossed me my lucky pearl, and I almost didn't catch it because it was so unexpected. "Uhh…isn't this yours now? I mean you won it fairly…"

"True, I did," Tsunade replied, "But I really have no need for it. I AM The Hokage after all. Now my real question is what drove you to bet something like that? What did you want to gain? It must have been something you really had your eye on."

"Well…I did have my eye on one thing. Remember that emerald ring that the guy put down at the beginning?"

"That was what you wanted?"

"Yeah."

"Though I think I already know, why did you want it?"

"Well…I was gonna give it to the girl that I liked, and-"

"You mean Hinata?"

"Okay really, is it REALLY that obvious!?!?!?"

"I didn't realize it at first, but I figured it out not too long after you met her for the first time."

"Man…it really must be that obvious…"

Tsunade chuckled and said, "Yeah, it really is!"

"I must be really bad at hiding it or something!" I said to her.

"You really are."

"Yeah yeah, I know."

"You were really going to give that ring to her? You weren't going to keep it for yourself?"

"I really was going to give it to her."

"I gotta say," Tsunade replied, "That is really sweet of you."

"Uhh…thanks?

"Here'd" Tsunade dug through her bag and pulled the emerald ring out. "It's yours if you want it…"

My eyes were wide. _No…freakin…way!!!_

"Under two conditions!" Tsunade said. _OF COURSE THERE WAS A CATCH!!! WHY DIDN'T I FIGURE THAT OUT!?!?!?_

I sighed, preparing for a long next few weeks of chores around Hokage Mansion, and said, "And they are?"

"One, you have to actually give the ring to her. You can't keep it for yourself under any circumstances! Two, when you give it to her, you HAVE to ask her out."

My eyes widened. "Uhhhhh…ummmmm….ahhhhhh…well, I…ummm…"

"Oh, and one more thing, you have to give the ring to her and ask her out TONIGHT!"

And you didn't think my eyes could get any wider. I felt my face getting really hot now, and I had no doubt that I was blushing like crazy.

"Y'know James, even when it's getting dark I can still see you blush."

_Well that confirmed it._

_"_Well? Is it a deal?" Tsunade asked.

"Ummm…well…I dunno…I mean, I dunno if I can ask her out…umm…

"If you don't then I keep the ring for myself."

_Okay James, you've gotta make a decision here. Are you gonna ask the girl you've liked ever since you set eyes on her out and give the ring to her, or are you going to chicken out!? DO IT JAMES!!! DO IT DAMMIT!!!_

_"_Okay, I'll do it." I said to Tsunade, "I'll do it!"

"Good to hear!" Tsunade said as she tossed me the ring, which I caught with ease this time around, "I'm making you do this for your own good, you know?"

"Why do I think that it also has something to do with you wanting to see me break down in front of Hinata?" I asked.

"Because a small part of it does." Tsunade replied.

"Oh, THANKS!"

"Hey, you asked! Besides, it's not like I wasn't telling the truth when I said it was for your own good too!"

"True. Well, thanks." I said to Tsunade, and I did mean it that time around.

"Eh, it's no big deal. Besides, in all respects you should have won that round. You're pretty good you know?"

"Hahahaha!" I laughed, "No one's good at Poker! I just got lucky, that's all."

Tsunade chuckled and said, "So modest! Hah! Well, be seeing you around." She walked back to the poker circle and said, "I'm out for the rest of the night. Sorry boys."

_Oh what, so she's even going to sacrifice poker time just to see me break down in front of Hinata!? That's real nice Tsunade…real freakin' nice…_

I went back to the Genin section of the party, sat down and thought, _how the hell am I going to ask Hinata out tonight…?_


	23. Chapter 23: A Romance of Sparks

_**Chapter 23: A Romance of Moonlight and Sparks**_

It was about 8:00 p.m. and I still didn't know how I was going to ask Hinata out. _Should I just go up to her and ask? No…well…umm…maybe I should wait. But what if it gets too late? And when I do, what'll she say? Will she say no? Yes? I know she likes Naruto an awful lot…god I just don't know!!!_

"What are you doing all the way over here James!?" Sakura called to me. I had found a nice area where I thought I couldn't be bothered, but I guess I was wrong. "The light show's gonna start in half an hour!"

"Wha? I didn't know that!" I said, "Where is it?"

"It's right over there!" she pointed towards where the Jutsu competition was held, "You'd better come over right now if you wanna get good seats. They fill up fast for this event!"

"Absolutely!" I replied as I got up quickly and brushed myself off, "Let's go and get some seats now!" Little did I know that Sakura had already taken off in that direction. "Hey, WAIT UP!!!" I yelled at her as I followed her running. Soon enough I entered an area with a great amount of space that was cleared up for people to sit on the grass, and the stage where the Jutsu competition was right there too. Thankfully the good seats hadn't been taken, so Sakura and I went up as close as we could get and sat down. "So we just wait now?" I asked.

"Yeah, pretty much." She replied. Not thirty seconds later she immediately got up and said, "I just realized I forgot something! I'll be back in a sec!" and left in a hurry. I wondered what exactly she forgot that was so important, and just in case she was gone for a while I saved her seat.

Fifteen minutes passed and I was wondering where she went. I stood up to get a better view, but I couldn't find her anywhere. I sat back down, and about ten seconds afterwards she came bursting out from behind the crowd with someone behind her that I couldn't see, though I assumed it was Naruto. I just faced back toward the stage, thinking that I was gonna here Naruto complaining about Sakura dragging him all the way here soon. A couple seconds later Sakura sat back down to the right of me and said, "Thanks for saving my seat."

"Eh, no problem," I replied facing her, "But what was it that you-"

"Oh, I almost forgot to tell you!" Sakura said quickly cutting me off, "I ran into Hinata and since she wanted a front row seat to this, I figured she could sit to the left of you where she is right now! Hope you don't mind too much."

"But what was so important that you forgo- WHA!?!!??!?" I jumped about three feet into the air and turned around to see Hinata sitting calmly to the left of me. Yeah, Sakura saying that took a little bit to register in my head.

_Oh holy shit Hinata's right freakin' there!!! What do I do!!! WHAT DO I DOOO!!! Okay, okay…stop freaking out…you just gotta act calm, just act normal…just stay cool…my god she's gonna be right next to me for the entire show! How am I gonna survive that!? You'll just have to James; you'll just have to… _I looked at Sakura, who looked innocent on the outside, but I could practically see her inner self screaming in joy from my reaction. I sat back down as calm as I could, though a little shaky, turned to Sakura and –so no one else could here – said, "You planned this the entire time didn't you?"

"…nooooooo…" she replied trying to act innocent, "Like I said before, I just forgot something and I happened to run into her and thought it would be nice if we got her up here."

"You KNOW I like her."

"So?"

"So you plan on getting her and I hooked up tonight or something?"

"Something like that…"

"AHA! So you admit that you were planning it!?"

"Well…it had something to do with it…but I really did forget something too."

"What DID you forget anyways?" I asked.

Sakura raised one of her hairpins up and said, "This."

"That?" I asked almost incredulously, "You forgot THAT? I think that was just an excuse to get up, find Hinata and sit her right next to me!"

"Well so what if it was?" Sakura asked, "What are you going to do about it now, hmm? Oh, and just to let you know, Naruto won't be here in this crowd at all. He says he doesn't care much for these light show things, and he'd rather do other stuff. So yeah, he won't be here, so Hinata's all yours tonight!"

"Who do you take me for anyways, some kind of pimp?"

"Did I ever call you one?'

"…okay, I'll admit what I just said was a little uncalled for, but really, you honestly expect me to hit it off with her tonight just because she's sitting right next to me?"

"Well we can both agree on the fact that you like her A LOT right?"

"Of course!"

"Then you should at least ask her out or something!"

"…wait a sec, did Tsunade tell you to do this?"

"She told me to do something along the lines of this, but I was planning on doing this anyways."

"Aww hell, so even the Hokage herself is in this one? Does everyone want Hinata and I to be going out or something?"

"I dunno," Sakura replied to me, "But she's here, right? She's right next to you, right? There's gonna be a really cool and very possibly romantic show soon, right? What better time to ask a girl out than this!?"

_Y'know…she really does have a point there…oh SHIT!!! I forgot my flower!!! SHIT SHIT SHIT!!!_

"Hey," I started, "I just realized I forgot something too, and I gotta go like NOW to get it!"

I started to get up, but Sakura yanked me back down saying, "Oh no you don't! You aren't running away!"

I got up and whispered to Sakura, "No, you don't understand! I bought a flower for Hinata that I was gonna give to her today, and I forgot it at my place!"

"You're telling the truth?" Sakura asked.

"Absolutely! Save me a seat alright?"

"Fine, but be quick about it!"

I got up, grinned, turned around and said, "Hey, who do you think I am anyways? I'm like a speed demon here!" With that I dashed to the direction of my house as fast as my feet could possibly carry me.

Thankfully my feet were fast and my place wasn't all that far, so in less than three minutes I had reached my place and was inside looking for where I put the thing. I spotted the Rainbow Flower on a counter and snatched it, and I had almost left before my brain actually started working before my feet. _Now wait a second…she'll get really suspicious if she sees this…I need a bag that isn't clear or something to temporarily put this in- OOH! I just got an idea! _I took out my Emerald Ring that I was also to give to Hinata, pulled the petals down on the flower and put the ring right through the flower so that it slid down the flower and settled on the soil in the small vase. Now the flower was perfectly between the ring, and I could give them to her at the same time in an even more romantic fashion!

_Now for the bag…_ I looked around for something, a sack, a bag, anything that could hold this flower with a ring and vase, and I couldn't find anything of the sort. _Fine, screw it, _I thought, _I'll just wrap this in my sweater so she can't see it. _I took my sweater off and wrapped it around the flower carefully to make sure that I didn't accidentally snap it in half, and found that it wasn't going to work. _Okay, I'm losing time here. I'll be lucky if it hasn't started already! I'm just gonna have to hold it behind me and hope she doesn't see._ I ran out of my house in a hurry, hoping that Hinata would be too distracted by the light show to notice.

I could see the spot that Sakura saved for me, and I was very careful as to how I entered the area. I very, very carefully hid the gift behind my back perfectly so Hinata couldn't see, walked over to Sakura, bent down and said very quietly so only she could hear, "Hey, you're farther away from Hinata than I am, do you mind keeping this to your far side at the moment?"

Apparently I slightly startled her from coming behind her, she turned quickly and said, "Sure sure, fine, just set it there." I did so, and as I did she took a look at the gift and gaped, "You got her a flower AND a ring!?" she said to me quietly.

"Yeah, I did. Should I not have?" I asked as Sakura kinda looked a little depressed.

She looked at me attempting to look bright and said, "Oh no, it's very romantic! Really nice! It's just that…"

I realized that I was still standing, so I sat down between Hinata and Sakura and looked at Sakura curiously. "What is it?" I asked. I thought I'd done something wrong.

"It's just that…" she started, "The one I loved…he never did do anything like this for me…" she said as she motioned to the flower and ring.

"Oh…I see…" I said. Her eyes looked very pained, and as usual I wanted to help somehow, but I didn't know how. So I just stayed silent. I wanted to help her so badly, but I just didn't know what to do. I didn't want to lie to her and say that everything was gonna be alright, because how would I know that?

"The show's starting!" Hinata said excitedly.

I'd forgotten that she was right behind me, and I half-jumped, startled to know she was there. I immediately felt my face turning red afterwards from embarrassment for being startled by her. "Oh, uh okay!" I managed to get out.

I turned my attention to the stage when a single man came up from seemingly nowhere. "Thank you all for coming!" he told the crowd, which was silent with apprehension, "Please enjoy the following show!"

And with that the show started. The man who announced the show was apparently the guy running the show as well, as he held up a hand sign that made his fingertips glow green. Every light in the area was completely turned off or blown out, and if it were not for the moonlight and the glowing finger it would have been pitch black.

He moved the glowing finger about, and it left a trail of light that lasted for a good ten seconds before it dissipated, and with that he made a kanji figure I didn't recognize in the air with the light. Everyone clapped, but there was no big cheering or anything. Not yet anyways.

The man made another hand sign, and now his finger was basically a sparkler emitting a lot of sparks and light now and casting a bluish glow on all of us. I realized that it wasn't his finger that was the sparkler, but he was actually balancing a sparkling ball on his finger, and he threw it up into the air, took out his katana and chopped the sparkling ball in half, making a small explosion that sent many a spark flying around the area.

Another hand sign was made, and now his katana was glowing green. He slashed at air, leaving light marks in the air that lasted for a long time. Long enough that he had "air painted" the front view of Konoha with his katana when he was done. Everyone clapped a lot on that one, but it wasn't even the end. He slashed the air painting in half, and it disintegrated into lots of green sparks that, when you looked closely, actually had wings. Yeah, the sparks were flying like fireflies, and the big cheering happened during that.

After that it looked like he was setting something up on the ground, I couldn't tell what though because of the dark. I heard, "Summoning Jutsu!" from the direction of the light show man, and a small light started to emit from the ground. It started growing bigger…and bigger…and bigger until the entire summoning circle was enshrouded in orange sparkling hole. A huge dragon made of nothing but sparks came up from the summoning circle and roared, provoking a great applause from the crowd. The Spark Dragon aimed up toward the sky and breathed sparks as if they were fire, and the sparks went everywhere. "Whoa…" was all I could say to that. The sparks were brushing off of mine and others' skins, but they didn't hurt at all for some reason. I thought it was probably the jutsu that did that.

The Spark Dragon looked at the crowd, as if looking for someone. Suddenly, he lowered his head and looked directly at me at eye level. His head was probably as big as my entire body, so I was a little intimidated, but mostly confused.

The Light Show Man boomed, "The dragon has chosen who will ride him!"

_Oh that's kinda cool, who's gonna ri- oh wait…are you telling me…but really…OH GOD I'M SCARED!!! _ It took me some time to actually process that it was me that he was talking about. "Uhhhhhhhhhh…" was all I could say.

"Well? Do you accept?" said the Light Show Man.

I was completely frozen, not sure what the hell to do. _I can't believe I'm being asked if I wanna ride a dragon. It's a freakin' dragon!!! What do I do!!!_

"C'mon James!" Sakura said to me, snapping me out of my frozen state, "This is a once in a lifetime chance for you! Go for it!"

_Sakura's right…if I don't take this chance now…I'm probably not going to be able to again…_

I slowly got up and said, "I accept..." with all of the strength of will I had in me.

The Light Show Man smiled and said, "There is one other thing: You may let one other person ride with you. You may only choose one, so choose wisely if you wish it."

My first thought was, _This is the chance of a lifetime!!! I'll take Hinata!!!_ Then I realized that Sakura was right there too, and I didn't want her to feel like she was forgotten or anything. _Oh, now what do I do!?!?!? _

I looked at Sakura, then at Hinata, then at Sakura again. _Maybe if I talked to Sakura about it real quick…_ I leaned down, and I was about to say something, but Sakura smiled and held up a hand for me to stop. "I know exactly what you're thinking," Sakura said quietly so no one else heard, "Take Hinata, I know you want to. Don't worry about me, I'll be fine."

I kinda did a double take there. _Didn't expect that at all!_ "Are you sure?" I asked.

"Am I sure!?" Sakura said half teasingly half mockingly, "Of course I am, silly! Now go and ask her!"

"Well…okay." I said to her. I turned to Hinata, braced myself for anything, took a deep breath and asked, "Would you like to ride with me on the dragon?"

She just stared at me for a few moments, eyes wider than I'd ever seen them, mouth gaping open before she managed to say, "Um…uh…well…I…I-I…guess…yes…"

_Brain processing…Oh my god…she said yes!!!_

I was about ready to go ballistic and do a happy dance, but I held myself with all of the self-control I had in me. She slowly got up, and I turned to the Light Show Guy and asked, "So how are we supposed to get on him if he isn't even out of the ground yet?"

"You may ride on the back of my neck." The Spark Dragon said. Everyone oohed and ahhed at his speaking for the first time.

"I didn't know you could talk!" I said surprised.

The Spark Dragon said nothing in reply, he just lowered his head and neck so that he was flat on the ground, and I climbed up on the back of his neck and held on to one of the horns sticking up from the back of his neck. "Coming Hinata?" I asked, seeing that she hadn't moved from her prior position. She slowly and nervously made her way to The Spark Dragon and got on behind me.

"Uhh miss?" the Light Show Guy said to Hinata, "You may want to grab hold of a horn before he takes off so you don't fall."

I looked behind me to see that Hinata was right there, behind me and in front of the other three horns sticking up from the back of his neck. "Oh, I thought I'd just-" was all she could get out before The Spark Dragon raised himself from the hole, apparently not hearing the conversation that took place. Hinata yelped in fear and surprise and immediately held onto me. I was a little surprised by this, though I didn't let it show, I just made damn sure I had my grip on the horn.

Soon enough the dragon had managed to climb himself out of his summoning hole and stood up on his four legs. _Wow…he's a lot bigger than I thought!_ Big was an understatement on my part, this guy was HUGE! It was no wonder that such a large clearing was needed for the show; the dragon took up almost all of the clearing by himself!

"I'm taking off now," said The Spark Dragon, "Ready?"

I couldn't wait. I was nervous at first, but now that I was on him I was totally excited to get up into the air. "I'm ready whenever you and Hinata are!" I said excitedly. I turned to Hinata and asked, "You ready?"

"Um…well…I guess…" she said shyly.

"Then let's go!" boomed The Spark Dragon. Quite suddenly, the dragon jumped and took off. We were flying farther and farther away from the clearing, and soon enough we could see a good portion of Konoha. We were just holding on for dear life at first; I don't think either of us really stopped to catch the scenery until we'd been in the air for a few minutes.

When I was brave enough to actually take a look at what we were flying over, what I saw was breathtaking. All of Konoha was in view, and a few lights were left on in houses, glimmering in the village. I could see Hokage Mansion, the statues of the Hokages, hell I could even spot my house! _Wow…_

That was only half of the scenery though. I looked up and discovered the clear night full of stars, and the moon shimmering brightly. I didn't know what was better, the sky or the view of the ground. Hinata had decided to look too apparently, and she said, "It's beautiful…"

"What, the sky or the village?" I asked half-jokingly and half serious.

"Both," she replied, "This is all just so…so amazing…"

"Can't argue with that." I said.

Hinata suddenly looked at me and asked, "Why me?"

I didn't know what she meant. "Why you what?"

"Why did you…you choose me…to ride with you?"

_Oh shit…she asked…she just had to ask…well…now what? Maybe I should just tell her?_

"Well…" I started, "It's just that…I…well…ugh, how do I say this? I think I…no…I…uh…okay, you remember the time where I paralyzed myself during training with that stupid idea of mine? With the Shadow clones and all?"

"…yes…"

"And you remember how my face got all red?"

"Yes…"

"Well…it wasn't because I had a fever…it's because…I…I…"

_FOR FUCK'S SAKE JUST SAY IT ALREADY!!!, _I was screaming to myself in my mind. _JUST TELL HER!!_

"I…well…" I said, "I…it's because…I've never been scared of you or anything like that. Remember the time when we first met and I acted like I was scared of you?"

"Yes…why?"

"Well I guess I was kinda scared of you, but it's not in the 'I'm scared you're gonna beat me up' way…if you know what I mean…"

"…not…really…"

"It's just that I was really shy…and…well…I…I…"

_JUST TELL HER DAMMIT!!!!!!_

"I…like you…" I said to her.

_FINALLY!!!_

"You mean…" Hinata started, "You…like-like me?" I nodded, and she blushed furiously. "Umm…well…I…uh…I…um…just…I…wow…um…"

I looked down, and I think I was blushing pretty hard myself. We were flying above Konoha Forest, and I thought I saw a red glow moving in the forest. Instantly I was hit with a huge urgency that I couldn't explain at all, as if I was sensing danger. I pointed to where I saw the glow and asked, "Did you see that!?"

"See…what?" Hinata asked.

"I saw it too," The Spark Dragon said, "We should have a closer look."

"Yeah," I agreed, "But don't get too close to it. It looks like whatever it is, it's traveling right on the main path towards Konoha."

The Spark Dragon went to hover over the path, and I was appalled at what I saw.

What looked like an army of tens of thousands was heading right towards Konoha.


	24. Chapter 24: A Long Awaited Meeting

_**Chapter 24: A Long Awaited Meeting**_

"What the…" was all I could say to this. The army was storming the forest and spread out as far as the eye could see. The sheer number of this massive army was astounding, at least five thousand. "But who…who would attack us in such force!?"

"What I would like to know is what village has such force to dispose of in the first place…" The Spark Dragon said, "This is far beyond any of the villages alone. Possibly two or more Hidden Villages have a hand in this…"

"In any case, we should get back to warn everyone as soon as possible so they can prepare." I said. The army still had a ways to go through the forest – about twenty minutes worth of time left until they reach the gates of the village – and we had plenty of time to get back and tell everyone, especially seeing as though this dragon could probably fly super fast.

Just as the dragon was starting to turn around, a red projectile of some sort was shot at us. It hit the Dragon hard, and knocked me over to the side. I slipped and fell off, but managed to catch myself on the Dragon's leg. "Dammit!" I yelled. I was now hanging off of the Dragon's leg, trying to get back up.

"James!" Hinata yelled to turn my attention to her hand stretching as far as she could go for me to grab a hold of. I tried grasping her hand, but she was too far away. More projectiles were shot, and we were hit again. This was enough to ultimately lose my grip and fall. "AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" I yelled as I was falling. I fell for a long ways before, about halfway down, I lost consciousness.

*

"James." I heard a soft, female say calmly to me, "James…open your eyes."

I couldn't talk at all. I couldn't open my mouth or anything at all. Hell, I could barely move, and my eyes were no exception. I tried as hard as I could to open my eyes, but I couldn't.

"Not those eyes, James…" she said, "Not your physical eyes. Just relax, stop trying so hard to open your eyes, and you'll be able to."

I did as she said. I instantly relaxed, then tried opening my eyes again, this time not so hard, and just like that they opened.

_Where…in the hell…am I? _I thought as I looked around, _Am I dead?_

"No, you are not dead," said the girl, "You are inside yourself."

I was in a very foggy area; I couldn't see but maybe five feet in front of me. I was completely shrouded in a white fog, and I realized that I wasn't even on the ground. I was…floating?

_Why am I here?_

"You're unconscious right now. I took over your body for a short time to make sure you landed so you weren't harmed. You're in Konoha Hospital right now; they came over immediately after I landed you."

_And after you landed me, you went away from the controls to make it look like I fainted?_

_"_Precisely."

_…Who are you?_

"I have been called by many names. You know me as Kaminari."

At that moment, some of the fog cleared to reveal a woman whose skin did glow lightning blue and had electric currents coursing through her visibly. She was dressed only in simple cloth, and her radiant blue hair came down to her back. She held an impossibly large spear that measured to about seven meters long (that's roughly somewhere around four times my height I think) that had spearheads on both ends, and she held it effortlessly. The spear was literally overflowing with electricity, sending an occasional spark or a branch of electricity.

_So you are Kaminari…_

"Yes. We do not have much time left before your body awakens, so I must tell you…"

_Tell me what?_

"That army is from no Hidden Village. It is Mikaboshi's army of demons. Mikaboshi sent out a signal for them to attack the village earlier today."

_How is that possible!? Tsunade sealed him!_

"The sealing was enough to prevent him from escaping from your body and wreaking havoc upon Konoha, but not to prevent him from sending out his signal."

_How did he do it!?_

"He sent off a red spark in the air while you were having your jutsu contest."

_So that's how he did it!? I knew I saw a red spark there!!! But what do we do now? I mean, the numbers on those guys are huge, and they outnumber us at least five to one, if not way more. There's no way we can survive this!_

"There may be many of them, but his demons are stupid enough that you should be able to stand a chance against them. Don't let your guard down though; they are very strong physically and have deadly projectiles. Stay out of the air as much as possible, and don't let them get too close."

_Shouldn't be a problem with me, but I'm worried about the others…_

"They also have a point of extreme vulnerability."

_And that would be?_

"The third eye."

_Wha?_

"You shall see. You didn't get close enough to see them very well at all, so you'll see soon enough what I talk of. I shall keep in touch with you mentally, a kind of telepathy between us exclusively."

_Is Mikaboshi accounted for?_

"He will never be able to get out of the sealing until you die. I cannot harm him until that happens either."

_So I've gotta kill myself so you can get rid of him?_

"In essence, yes. I have had enough time since the sealing to rest, so I would have the strength to vanquish him once and for all. But as long as the sealing is in place, there is no need for that. You should be able to live with him safely after this battle is over."

_Hmm…alright then. Is everyone else okay?_

"You shall soon find that out for yourself. I shall aid you in battle when in need, though I cannot exist as a separate being, I shall instead give you a portion of my power whenever the need arises."

_Thanks…for everything…can I ask you one more thing real quick?_

"Very well, but make it fast."

_Why have you been doing all this for me? You kept Mikaboshi at bay for all these years before the sealing, and even afterwards you still stay with me despite the fact that Tsunade could have released you. Why is that?_

"…I do not really know. Maybe it is because I have grown attached to you over the years. You are a good person, and I do not believe I would be any more content with anyone else."

_…Thanks…_

"It is time."

_Okay…let's go…_


	25. Chapter 25: Awakening

_**Chapter 25: Awakening**_

I coughed a little as I finally came to. I found myself inside Konoha Hospital, just as Kaminari said I was in. I leaned up, but Sakura, who I hadn't noticed was there until now, leaned me back and said, "Take it easy, that was a really long fall you had back there."

I obliged, leaning back until I was lying down. "I know, but I'm fine."

"True, there doesn't seem to be any serious injury other than maybe a bruise or two from that little trip you had with the dragon, but I want to be completely sure before I let you go."

"You really are a good med-ninja. True to what you have to do."

"It IS my job after all."

A question ached in my mind, but I wasn't sure if Sakura could answer it. Even if she could, I wasn't sure I wanted the answer, but I asked anyways. I had to know.

"Sakura?"

"Hmm?"

"Do you know what happened to Hinata?"

"You don't worry a bit about Hinata. She can take care of herself."

"First of all, that doesn't answer my question. What happened to her? Secondly, are you saying I can't take care of myself?" I asked the second question with a good humored smile to compliment it.

Sakura smiled, and then said, "I see you still have some sort of sense of humor left. Hinata is okay; she dismounted safely and returned to the rendezvous point. She is unharmed as of when I last saw her."

_Phew…that takes a little off my mind._ It was then that I started hearing clashing sound, banging and shouting from a ways off. I looked out my window, realizing it was wide open, closed it and looked upon Konoha.

The village itself seemed intact, but no one was walking around like they normally would. The streets were abandoned completely, as if none had lived there for years. I looked a little farther, towards the gates, to see that the gates were closed except for a very small gap so that two people could squeeze through to get an occasional injured ninja to the hospital. I saw a ninja running this way with someone in his arms. I couldn't see much at all past the gate – the gap was quite small and a good distance away – but from what I could tell, it was chaos out there.

"Where exactly is the rendezvous point anyways?" I asked Sakura.

"Hokage Mansion." She replied.

"Are you sure Hinata's still there?"

"By now, she probably isn't. She's probably been assigned a mission that she's carrying out with her team."

"So she's out there!?" I almost yelled, pointing towards the main gates.

Sakura looked down, then said, "Probably…yes…"

I forced myself to calm down. This was no time to lose my cool at all. "Okay…" I started, "I have to get out of here, and get out there. Can you allow me to do that?"

Sakura looked up and down at me, and then said, "You seem to have no serious injuries – and not counting a couple bruises – barely any injuries at all. I'd say you're fine to go out there again, but if you want you can-" Before she could even finish, I was up out of my bed, out the door, out the hospital and rushing towards the main gates.

"…stay here?" Sakura finished.


	26. Chapter 26: The Battle Begins

_**Chapter 26: The Battle Begins**_

_Gotta find her…gotta make sure she's okay…gotta find her…gotta make sure she's okay…_This was all that was going through my head while I was running towards the main gates. The clashes of kunai striking metal plate were getting louder and louder as I pressed on. I couldn't see clearly what was going on because the gate was only very slightly open for the wounded to get in and for supplies to get out. Screaming, I heard screaming and yelling the entire time as well.

A couple moments away from the main gate I heard the unmistakable sound of a body being pierced with a sharp weapon, then a bloodcurdling scream like I'd never heard before. The smell of blood was fresh in the air.

I tried not to concentrate on any of that though. I just kept running through my head, _Gotta find her…gotta make sure she's okay…gotta find her…gotta make sure she's okay…_

I slipped through the gates to find myself in the middle of utter chaos.

Konoha ninjas were jumping around every which way, disappearing in and out of the trees, but the monsters I saw before me simply stood in organized lines on the path. They were possibly the most horrific creatures I've ever laid eyes on. They were all garbed with a heavy armor that was a musty black with red bloodstains on all of them, and underneath that they wore what looked like…_a human skinwrap!?_ Their skin was alternating blood red and a pinkish, pus-like color, their faces were completely hideous. Their armor was exposed slightly with a small, round opening about three inches in diameter in the middle of the chest.

The really bad thing about their physical features is that they were all on average 150% more muscled, taller, and overall bigger than us. For every five foot ninja there was on our side, they had ten seven-and-a-half foot monster with them. They were huge, and they meant business. Some of them were literally pin-cushioned with kunai and shuriken, and yet they still stood as though they felt no pain. Maybe they didn't. They were all armed with either massive maces or giant cleavers, both of which looked as ugly as the bearers.

I realized that I was standing in the middle of a bunch of dead ninja, and when I looked down at them, their lifeless bodies somehow got to me in a way I'd never quite been gotten to before. I just stood there as the others fought and the army came closer. I turned around to find one of those monsters brandishing a cleaver, just about ready to bring it down on me, and I was frozen. I didn't know what to do at all; I couldn't think.

I saw a bright orange flash out of the corner of my eye, and before I knew it Naruto knocked me away from the monster just as he brought down the cleaver. The cleaver hit the ground below, and was stuck. The monster struggled to pull it out.

Naruto looked at me and said, "James, what the hell were you doing!?"

I didn't know how to respond. This was all so much for me to take, in so little time. _Maybe coming here wasn't such a good idea… _I tried to focus, and I finally got back up on my feet. _Gotta find her, gotta make sure she's okay. Gotta find her, gotta make sure she's okay._

"Sorry Naruto…I don't know what came over me…" I said.

"First battle?"

"First real one anyways."

Naruto looked at me in the eye and said, "Just make damn sure it doesn't happen again. I might not be there to save your skin next time."

_Boy does that figure of speech mean something else now…_

"Yeah, okay," I said, "You don't happen to know where Hinata's squad is, do you?"

"Probably in the north portion of the forest. One squad was to go there, and one to the opposite side to find out if any more of them are coming." Naruto replied.

"Thanks!" I said, "You should probably get back to your squad."

Naruto simply nodded, and jumped back to the other side of the path. I headed into the northern portion of the forest to try and find Hinata. _Gotta find her, gotta make sure she's okay, gotta find her, gotta make sure she's okay._


	27. Chapter 27: DogBoy

_**Chapter 27: Dog-Boy**_

_Gotta find her…gotta make sure she's okay…gotta find her…gotta make sure she's okay…_ At some point in this I may have added a _"Running out of breath…gotta find her…gotta make sure she's okay."_

I tried my best to avoid any of those monsters, and for the most part I was okay, as they were all marching down the path in straight formation. I was racking my memory for the "Third Eye" that was supposed to be their weak spot, and whether I'd seen it or not from that monster Naruto saved me from. At the same time I was also looking for Hinata, and my awareness of my surroundings had sharpened five-fold. This isn't saying much, seeing as though I'm not all that aware of my surroundings to begin with. I'd taken to the forest, far off from the path and relying on my sense of direction. For what seemed like hours I searched, but to no avail.

Finally, I heard a familiar "Bark!" to the left of me. "Akamaru!?" I called out. The white and brown spotted dog came out, and scratched his ears. "Hehe, there you are Akamaru. Where are the others?"

Akamaru barked urgently after the scratching, turned around and signaled for me to follow him with his tail, and scampered off into the forest depths. _I hope this dog knows where he's going…_

I might have taken ten steps before I heard Kiba's voice yelling, "Hey Akamaru!!! Where did you go!?" Akamaru and I emerged into a small forest clearing where Kiba was standing. "There you are Akamaru!" Kiba exclaimed as the dog went to his owner. He looked at me and said, "Hey James, how've you been?"

All of a sudden, one of those huge, hideous monsters appeared behind him, armed with a giant cleaver and about to strike right down on top of Kiba. "Look out Kiba!!!" I yelled. As if I'd done it a million times before, I whipped out a kunai and threw it straight at the monster. It stabbed through the small hole in the armor's chest and made a sickening sound indescribable by words. The monster let out a roar of pain as blood gushed out from his would like a red waterfall, and he toppled over on his back. A few moments of roaring on his back, and it stopped. It was dead.

This was the first living thing I had ever killed anything in my entire life that was bigger than a spider. It was a peculiar feeling that I had, an odd combination of guilt and sorrow, satisfaction and settlement.

"You saved me…" Kiba said, a little shocked, "Thanks…"

"Yeah…no problem…" I replied. I didn't really know what to say. After a slight pause, I asked, "Where is everyone else in your squad?"

"We got separated," Kiba answered, "That guy you just killed probably followed me. Hinata and Shino are probably on the other side of the pathway where the monsters are marching."

"Damn…" I muttered under my breath so only I could hear. I paced around the dead monster for a few moments, and then took out the kunai I had thrown at him. I had hit the only feasible opening in the monster's armor. _This must be the "Third Eye" that Kaminari was talking about. One hit here and they're gone. _"For future reference," I told Kiba, "Aim for this opening in the armor in the very middle of the chest. It'll kill em, one hit."

Kiba simply nodded. "By now they could have traveled down parallel the pathway – Shino and Hinata that is – so I say that we travel down parallel and then cross the pathway."

"Or they could have gone farther away from the pathway and not moved parallel to it whatsoever." I pointed out, "I say that one of us goes down beside the pathway a ways and then cross, and one of us crosses now."

"I'll be the one that goes down a ways, then crosses," Kiba said, "But how are we going to cross? You have to hit them from the front to be effective at all."

"Then stay atop the trees," I replied, "That way they don't see you and you won't have to hit them at all. Jump across the pathway from above, and I doubt they'll notice; they don't exactly have the best sense of what's around them I'm guessing."

"Probably not…they're like robots or something…"

"Flesh-garbed robots…" I commented. This entire time I was thinking, _Gotta find her, gotta make sure she's okay…_ I was getting antsy. "Let's go then." I said. Kiba simply nodded and said "Good luck" as he ran off beside the pathway, but not too close to the pathway so that they wouldn't see him. I climbed a tree to the upper portion and started jumping from branch to branch until I got to the pathway where I had to cross.

The pathway that I had to cross from above was only a meter or two's jump, but to me it felt like ten meters. It was a gaping chasm that I had to jump across. I gathered a good portion of my chakra to my feet, braced myself, and jumped.

Unfortunately, I overdid the foot chakra, and completely overshot the branch I was going for on the other side. Sure, I had crossed just fine, and none had seen me, but in the process I'd hit a nice big tree trunk face first. I fell all the way to the floor, somehow managing to land on my feet, and gasped for breath. _Ow…that wasn't good…let's not do that again. Damn trees, causing me so much pain on my freakin' face…_ Sure as ever though, my thought process switched back to "_Gotta find her, gotta make sure she's okay" _within a few minutes, and after that I was off looking for Hinata once again.


	28. Chapter 28: Found, Loved, Caught

_**Chapter 28: Found, Loved, Caught**_

_Gotta find her, gotta make sure she's okay. Gotta find her, gotta make sure she's okay. Gotta find…ugh…her…gotta…ehh…make sure…ugh…she's…huff…okay…_

I was almost out of steam; by now it had felt like I'd searched for Hinata for weeks, though I knew it hadn't been that long since the sun still hadn't come up. The exhaustion was taking its toll; I had a long, exciting day in Hanami, a huge ride with a dragon, confessed to Hinata (hey, it takes a lot more energy than you may think…well, for me anyways…), fell off of a dragon, met Kaminari, and had thrown myself smack-in-the-middle of an all-out war battle. So you can see why I was exhausted by this time; I'd had one hell of a day. At one point I had to just sit down and catch my breath for a few moments despite my determination to find Hinata. Of course, after a few minutes I got right back up again and went to work searching. I wished I could just yell, "HINATA!?!? WHERE ARE YOU!?!?", but I didn't want to draw any more of those…things…to me than I had to.

After a long time of searching I tripped over my own feet, exhausted. I couldn't get up; I was all out of fuel. I just laid there for a few minutes, in the dark, damp forest night. It almost felt like a repeat of when I first stepped foot into this land: on the floor, exhausted, thirsty, feeling like I'm about ready to die. All of this was just so much…

But the thought of Hinata in trouble managed to rouse me once again. I picked myself up, and kept on searching. At this point I couldn't search thoroughly if my life depended on it; it was truly a last-ditch effort on trying to find her. I was about as thorough as a drunkard, and I walked (for lack of any other word to describe it) as such. I tripped over a stray tree root, and fell flat on my face. I was done, I was out, and I was down for the count. I tried moving my body, but I barely could. I could only wriggle my hands and my feet. I moved my foot around the tree root I had tripped over…and realized that it didn't feel like a tree root at all. _What the hell…it feels like…oh god…that's no tree root…_ I stood up with a somewhat newfound energy that came from curiosity, turned around and looked down to what I tripped over.

Hinata was laying there, her leg badly wounded and her forehead with a huge welt on it. Her leg had bled a lot, but seemed to stall for the moment. My heart sunk as soon as I saw this sight; she was unconscious, and I thought for a moment that she might be dead. _No…please…no! _I checked her pulse. _Still alive…she's still alive…gotta get her somewhere safe…gotta get her back to town! _I picked Hinata up, and with newfound strength and determination I headed towards the front gate, careful not to get too near to the path. There were two things I was thinking constantly at this point: _Gotta get Hinata back to the village, _and _Those bastards are gonna pay dearly for this…NO ONE fucks around with my girl like this and gets away with it…_

I got to the front gate, and thankfully the ninja there seemed to have held them back nicely. I slipped through the front gate and into the village, and ran all the way to Konoha Hospital with Hinata in my arms. They saw me coming apparently, for there was a female med-ninja waiting outside. "Get her in here," she said to me. I simply nodded and went inside Konoha Hospital. Another med-ninja – male this time - led me to an empty room with a cot. "Set her here." He said to me, pointing at the cot. I gingerly laid Hinata down on the bed, looked up at the med-ninja who was already assessing the damage. "First impression?" I asked him.

"I'm pretty sure she'll live," the med-ninja replied, "She's wounded in the leg, and we'll have to get a good healer in here soon, but that should be taken care of within a few hours. She shouldn't even have much scarring." The wounds looked scarier to me than they really were, apparently. Then again, I was in love with her, so I guess that would only make sense.

"Am I allowed to stay with her?" I asked.

The med-ninja looked up at me and said, "Are you and her in a relationship?" It sounded like an odd question to me for some reason.

"…not really…" I replied, "…but I care for her a lot. I don't think she quite knows how much I do…"

"You love her." The med-ninja said. It wasn't a question, but either way I nodded.

"But we aren't…'together'…persay…"

"I see…you may stay."

"Thanks." I said to him.

And so they healed her leg and forehead without too much trouble. It took about an hour, but it seemed relatively easy for them, and her injuries were healed altogether in about an hour and a half. I didn't care how serious or how small her wounds were; the fact of the matter was that those monsters had hurt Hinata. In that hour I had been building up all of my anger, hatred and rage towards those things.

At one point the med-ninjas recommended that I get some sleep because I hadn't had any rest for a long time, and for the long day that I'd had, I'd probably needed it. I couldn't sleep though, not until I heard Hinata's voice again. They assured me that she would be okay, and I believed them, but nevertheless it was something I couldn't sleep soundly without having.

At about the two-hour-mark, Hinata came back into consciousness. I was beside her at the time, and I said, "Don't try to move too much. The med-ninjas healed your wounds, but they need time to fill in naturally. Trust me, I got burnt in the hand once and couldn't use it very much for the entire day afterwards because of that."

"James..." she said weakly, "Where am I?"

"You're in Konoha Hospital," I said softly, "You should be fine now."

"Kiba…Shino…we got separated…"

"I know. I saw Kiba along the way, so I know he's fine. As for Shino, I'm pretty sure he can hold his own. I don't think you have to worry about him."

"James…how did I get here?"

"I brought you here. I saw you on the ground, badly injured and quite a ways away from the main gate and the pathway. I picked you up, ran to the main gate, slipped through and put you where you are now."

"They came from behind us…we didn't expect them at all…Kiba got knocked all the way across the path by one of them. Shino got knocked the other way…then I don't remember what happened after that…"

"It's perfectly fine. You don't have to remember."

"James…can I ask you something?"

"Anything, go ahead."

"Do you really like-like me?"

This came to me as a surprise. I didn't expect her to ask this; I'd already admitted it to her on the dragon. I was ready to say "Of course I do, I told you before", but I stopped myself. My brain actually started working, and I realized that the term 'like-like' isn't exactly the most appropriate.

"Why do you ask that?" I asked.

Hinata sighed heavily, and begun, "If this is as big a battle as we saw, any one of us could die at any given time. It's just that…well…It's just…I want to know something like that…because I might lose my chance after this…and I don't want to die wondering…wondering if you really meant what you…you said…"

Her eyes were filled with emotion that I'd never seen but only once before, and that was the time I saw Sakura reminisce over Sasuke before our first mission. I knew what I had to say now.

"The truth is, Hinata," I started, "No, I don't 'like-like' you." I paused for a moment, then said with the most feeling I had ever put into any words I'd ever spoken to this date, "I love you Hinata." Instinctively – almost automatically - I leaned down and kissed her on the lips. I wasn't greedy about it; it lasted barely five seconds.

After I unlocked our lips, Hinata did something that to this day still surprises me. It came out of nowhere, and took me completely off-guard. She wrapped her arms around me, pulled me back and started kissing me. I was a little shocked for a few moments, but after a little bit I started actually kissing too.

What lasted a second felt like a minute, and what lasted a minute felt like an hour. I never wanted to stop, and I wished I could just stay here taking in all of this. She smelled like blueberries and cherry blossoms, her hair was softer and finer than anyone's I'd ever known, her eyes were hypnotizingly beautiful, and she moaned every so often with that amazing voice of hers. I wished I could stay there for the rest of my life, but the stupid voice in the back of my brain kept reminding me that I knew I couldn't.

As if to prove that stupid voice's point, I heard a familiar voice ask, "Having fun?" in a teasing tone. Immediately, we both pulled away at the same time and looked up to see Sakura standing at the doorway with a grin on her face a mile wide. Hinata immediately started blushing worse than I'd ever seen her blush before (and that's saying a lot, seeing as though I'd seen her blush really badly before) I felt my face getting extremely hot, and I had no doubt that I was blushing extremely hard myself.

"Sakura!" I exclaimed, "What the hell are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be working on other people or something?"

"It's my five-minute break at the moment, so no, I'm not," she replied, "But if what I just saw wasn't an illusion of some sort-"

"Yes, I'm casting Genjutsu on you." I said sarcastically.

"Uh huh," was all Sakura replied with, "I'll leave you two now to have a bit more fun." She turned around and headed down the hall.

I looked at Hinata, and she looked back. "I'm sorry James…I didn't mean to…it's just…I don't know…what came over me…and-"she tried to apologize.

I stopped her and said with a smile, "It's not a big deal to me. Don't worry about it. I'm fine, you're fine, no one got killed just because we got caught kissing." Hinata's face went a little red as I said that, and I think mine may have too. "I should probably be the one apologizing, what with unexpectedly swooping in there and all…"

Hinata turned just a slight shade more red and said in a low, somewhat embarrassed tone, "its ok…like you said…didn't kill anyone…"

I just stood there for a while, looking at Hinata, looking outside the window to see how many ninja they were bringing back in, looking at Hinata again, looking through the window in the door, looking at Hinata again. I knew they would want me back out there fighting, but it would be extremely difficult for me to part with Hinata like this.

Hinata was the first to bring it up. "Is anyone expecting you out there?" she asked as I glanced through the window to the outside.

"Probably," I half mumbled, "I should probably go out there and start fighting them." I got up from my chair and went to the doorway. I had my hand on the doorknob, but something stopped me from turning it. I just couldn't turn it, I just couldn't leave Hinata. It was so hard for me. Something of mine took control of my body, went back to Hinata, leaned down and kissed her one final time. It was the best kiss I had ever had my entire life. I never wanted to stop, but I knew I had to. As soon as I gently pulled away, I said to her, "I love you so much. I always have loved you, and I always will love you." One more kiss occurred, but after that I forced myself to stop before I got caught up in all of it and lost control.

Again, I was at the doorway, with my hand to the doorknob. I opened it with a little more ease than before, but before I went outside I said to Hinata, "I'm sorry for being so selfish. I know you like Naruto a lot, but the thought of not telling you and not being able to kiss you before I die was too much for me." With that, I left Konoha Hospital. I didn't want to give her a chance to respond with words for fear of drawing me right back in, but her facial expression after I said that – one of understanding and of love – was all I needed as a response.

I exited the hospital, gathering all of the anger and hatred towards those monsters that I had in me. _They harmed Hinata…now those motherfuckers are going to pay!!! _ I soon realized that my anger wouldn't make up for my lack of energy; it was probably somewhere around 3:00 A.M., and no matter how pissed I was, I was tired too. _Kaminari…can you lend me some of your energy?_

_ "Certainly", _replied Kaminari as a voice in my head. As soon as she had spoken, energy coursed through every part of me, such energy that the likes of which I'd never had before even when I was in top shape. Still harnessing all of the anger that I had, I walked through the main gates and into the fray.


	29. Chapter 29: Rage

_**Chapter 29: Rage**_

The first thing I saw as I slipped through the giant gates was a ninja flying right at me with his back facing me. I ducked, and the ninja hit the gate in the air hard. I heard the sickening sound of his bones cracking as he hit the gate, and the dull _thud _when he hit the ground afterwards. I went to him and kneeled down. His front was to the ground, so I turned him over to see who he was.

It was the Light Show Man.

This was the first time I'd ever gotten really close to him to see what he looked like. He was an elderly man, probably around 60 years old. I checked his pulse, and there was none. Checked his heart, and there was no beat. _Dead…_I thought, _and I was hoping to learn some of his tricks too…he let me fly on his Spark Dragon with Hinata…he was a pretty cool guy…I didn't even know his name…I never got the chance to thank him…_I looked up to see one of the monsters looming over me, ready to attack. _Son of a bitch!!! _With all of my anger, all of Kaminari's loaned energy, all of my rage.

All of my strongest feelings were coursing through me as I made the hand sign quick as lightning, yelled, "CHIDORIIII!!!", and hurled my fist at the monster.

An extremely bright light emitted from my fist, and I was blasted back a few feet and hit the ground on my back. I was blinded for a few seconds by the light because it was so bright.

The first thing I noticed was the smell. I noticed that before I even got up. It smelled like…burning. I picked myself up, and turned around to face the pathway. There was no massive formation of monsters anymore, instead it was replaced with a sight that looked like someone just took a massive spoon and scooped up the entire pathway. In other words, the pathway was completely obliterated, as were the monsters it seemed. A few trees cracked and fell sideways, and a couple were on fire as well. _Whoa…did I really just do that?_

"Duuuuuuuude…" a familiar voice said to the left of me. I looked to fine Kiba standing there, in shock and awe. "I had no idea you packed that much firepower…"

Shaken, I replied, "I didn't know I did either."

A couple of ninja near me cheered for me. Then a few more, then a lot more. The next thing you knew, there was a crowd of ninja cheering for me. I had completely obliterated that entire garrison with one shot, and I still felt like I could take more on. I was hoping they didn't expect any more out of me; I wasn't sure I could do something like that again even if I tried. A lot of the most brilliant things I do end up to be flukes. These guys were going so crazy; you'd have thought we just won a battle or something! Oh wait…we did…

Our celebration was short-lived though. I spotted Rock Lee running down the (now obliterated) pathway. He ran until he got to all of us and announced, "Now is not the time to be celebrating! My squad and I have spotted at least a hundred times more of those monsters than what was on this path!" Everyone fell silent after that.

I broke the silence, asking, "A hundred times more? Really? That's no exaggeration?"

"When I said at least a hundred times more, I was being generous to our side," Rock Lee replied, "In reality, that is a low estimate. There is probably more around two-hundred or three-hundred times more."

_Well crap…_

"How far away are they?" asked a ninja. I recognized the voice as Kakashi's.

"They are a good distance away; around a few miles or so." Replied Lee

"We should probably get this to Lady Tsunade so that we might be able to form a plan then," Kakashi said, "All Jonin- rank and higher, get to Hokage Mansion and meet in the War Room. Chunin and Genin, you are to remain out here in case the monsters are faster than they seem and attack before we get a plan going. James," Kakashi added, "You are coming with me."


	30. Chapter 30: The Plan for Round Two

_**Chapter 30: The Plan for Round Two**_

I looked at Kakashi and followed him back through the gates and into the city. He turned a corner sharply and into an alleyway, and I followed. Then he turned around to face me and said, "What's your secret?"

I didn't understand what he meant. "Huh?" I asked.

"I've never seen a Chidori blast that massive in my entire life. Not even I could match that power. How did you do it?"

"Well…"I began, "It wasn't really me for a lot of it. I asked Kaminari to loan me a bit of her energy because I didn't think I could make it through the night without it, and she gave a lot more of it than I was expecting." I didn't say anything about my anger I had towards them after they harmed Hinata and killed the Light Show Man.

_"You said to only give a little bit," _Kaminari said in my head, "_And that is just what I did. What I gave you was a very small portion of what I have."_

_ Wow…you must have a ton of energy._

"I thought that might be the case," Kakashi said, "Which is why I went down here in this alley, so that we wouldn't be heard. Good, because you're going to need all the energy and chakra you can get if you want to make it past the night. I told Naruto earlier to get to the war room with the rest of the Jonin, and that's where we're going too." He exited the alley and went back into the main street, heading toward Hokage Mansion

As I followed Kakashi, I asked, "Why Naruto, just out of curiosity?"

"Let's just say that he's not your average everyday Genin."

"I can tell that much; his mouth is probably bigger than his chakra supply."

"Heh, that's not what I meant. He is like you; he's got something inside of him that makes him abnormally more powerful than the rest his age."

"I'd figured as much as soon as I saw him pull a…a…what's that wind sphere attack thing called again?"

"What, his Rasengan?"

"Yeah, that! I figured he was something else as soon as I saw him do a Rasengan."

"He never happened to teach you how to use the Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu, did he James?"

"Actually he did, and I was able to hold more of myself than I care to count perfectly stable."

"For how long?"

"About an hour or so."

"You're kidding me, right? You really held your clones for that long, James?"

"I'm not kidding! You can even ask him yourself the next time you get the chance; he was there when I did it!"

"Very interesting…" Kakashi said. We didn't talk any more for the rest of the walk, and as we entered Hokage mansion we could hear yelling from an above floor.

"Give us a chance!!!" we heard Naruto's voice yelling from above with protest, "There's no way you could be doing this to us!!!"

"It's too dangerous, kid!" another ninja said loudly, "Way, way too dangerous for Genin!"

"I don't care how dangerous it is, I want out there!!!" Naruto yelled.

Kakashi and I just looked at each other with a "That's-Naruto-for-ya" look on our faces, and advanced up the stairs and into the war room.

A fairly large, round table was at the center of the war room, and in it was seated all of the Jonin in the village (which was a pretty good amount considering the fact that Jonin is one of the higher ranks up), Naruto (who was half-standing and half-sitting) with an outraged look on his face, and Tsunade, who had a throne-like chair that gave a kind of center of attention. "You really should keep your voice down a little, Naruto." Kakashi remarked.

As if he didn't hear what Kakashi had said, Naruto pointed at the Jonin that we heard and loudly said, "They're making us stay back while the Jonin and Chunin clear out the area! I want in on this, and I don't care what ranks anyone are, I'll show them all up!!!"

"It's much too dangerous for any Genin to be out there," replied a Jonin in the table, "Do you realize what's going on out there?"

"I was out there for the first fight, of course I realized!!!" Naruto yelled, "Why would you guys bring me all the way here just to tell me that none of the Genin can fight!?"

"That's where my plan comes in," Kakashi cut in, "Naruto, James and I will be heading the attack with all of the Shadow Clones we can muster. How many was James able to hold, Naruto?"

"Umm…" Naruto thought for a moment, "I'd say a good five-hundred or so for more than an hour."

"Cut the time held in half, and double the amount," Kakashi said, "and you'd have a thousand Shadow Clones for a half an hour from James alone. You're sure it was that many, Naruto?"

"He surprised me when he did it." Naruto said.

"Very interesting…and that's not even putting Kaminari into the mix," Kakashi started, "I've known Naruto to hold as many as two thousand without much trouble against Kimimaru, but that was with the Nine-Tailed Fox on his side. I'd say James and Naruto can hold as many as each other, but Naruto can hold them for longer. Add those numbers up with my Shadow Clones, which can add up to about one and a half thousand without much trouble at all, and you've got a three-man army on your hands. How does that sound to you, Tsunade?"

"An interesting proposition…" Tsunade mulled it over for a few seconds, and then asked, "How many total do you suppose you three could come up with?"

"I'd say four-thousand at the very least, without adding in any Nine-Tailed Fox or Kaminari," Kakashi replied, "But chances are Kaminari's going to help with this one, and you can never really tell with that Fox of Naruto's, so at the maximum I'd say we could go fifteen-thousand. That's if the Fox and Kaminari both kick in."

"_Are you willing to go through with this, Kaminari?" _I asked her.

_Of course, I'll give you even more than I gave you the last time._

_ "That kind of power could become a pretty scary prospect…alright, thanks!"_

_ My pleasure._

"Are you alright, James?" Kakashi asked, "You were making weird faces just now."

"Was I? I didn't notice. I was just asking Kaminari about all of this, and she agreed to help out."

"That puts us up to about…oh, six-thousand clones I'd say." Kakashi estimated.

A smile curled on Tsunade's lips. "Let's do it then," she said, "With any luck, you three by yourselves might be able to wipe out the opposing army completely. There is one thing though," Tsunade sighed for a moment, then continued, "They are not just coming from the main entrance. The Aburame Clan has reported that the same types of enemies are climbing across the mountains and are advancing to come down on us by climbing down the Hokage Statues."

"How long before they arrive?" Kakashi asked.

"An estimated fifteen minutes, according to the Aburame Clan." Tsunade replied.

I leaned over to Naruto and asked, "Isn't that the clan that Shino's from?"

"Yeah," Naruto replied, "They're all bug users, so they probably just sent a bug to scout the area and report back to them or something."

"Ahhh, which would explain why they're the ones who found out about the ones behind the mountain."

"Is there no one else guarding that area?" Kakashi asked.

"I was hoping you would be able to do that with your Shadow Clones." Tsunade replied.

"Hmm…" Kakashi thought for a moment, "I guess that just means I'll have to go up to the mountainside while Naruto and James head the attack from the main gate by themselves."

I wasn't too certain about heading anything by myself. I'd never been the leader type, but more the second-in-command. I'd been offered the chance to take charge of many things, but I almost always declined because I've never been comfortable with being a leader. I'd always been afraid I would screw everything up, and that everyone would blame me and hate me for it afterwards. Then I remembered that Naruto would be with me, and that made swallowing the responsibility a lot easier.

"YEAH!" Naruto shouted as he pumped his fists in the air, "Finally I get a chance to show everyone what I'm made of myself!"

"Uhh, hate to break it to ya Naruto, but I'm going to be with you." I said to him.

"Eh, that's okay. You're fine."

"Hehe, thanks!"

"Now then," Tsunade cut in, "One more recap on the plan. Kakashi will go and defend the statue-tops. Naruto and James will go and attack from the Main Gate into the enemy's main forces. I'll send an equal amount of able-bodied ninja to back each of you up in the event that any of you three fall in battle, but if you do not, then they are to stay away and give you three some room. You'll need it. Any questions?"

Everyone simultaneously said, "No ma'am!"

"Good, now head to your designated areas!"

Everyone simultaneously said, "Yes ma'am!" and dispersed from the room.


	31. Chapter 31: An Army of Two&A Sandman Too

_**Chapter 31 – An Army of Two and a Sandman Too**_

_I think that I may have gotten more than I bargained for…_I thought to myself as I looked upon the immensity of this army that stood little more than two hundred yards away. Naruto and I had exited Hokage Mansion and had proceeded directly into the field to intercept the opposing army, but what Rock Lee said about a hundred times more of those monsters than before was a poor underestimate. We were just outside of Konoha Forest, and there may have been tens of thousands of those things marching down that field heading into the Forest. _There's no way…there's simply no way…they outnumber us way too much…_

_ "Remember that you have me on your side, James." _ Kaminari reminded me.

_Okay then, do you think you could do about half of your power to transfer to me?_

_ "I could, but keep in mind that the dose I gave you before was about 2% of my full power, and I apparently went overboard with just that."_

_ …okay then, tone it down to a quarter of your power. I'm gonna need a lot of it, but half I might not be able to even hold._

_ "Very well…"_

I looked at Naruto and said, "You ready?"

"Are you kidding me!?" Naruto yelled, "I'm more ready than I've ever been! We can take these guys!" With that, he made the hand sign and yelled, "Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu!!!" I was surprised at how many he managed to muster; a good thousand or so.

_Ready Kaminari?_

_ "To quote Naruto, I'm more ready than I've ever been."_

_ You think we can take these guys?_

_ "…I don't know, but we'll find out."_

Instantly, power like I'd never felt before surged through everything in me. It almost felt like my body was about to explode with sheer energy and chakra. At first I wasn't sure if I was able to hold it all in, but I got used to the feel after a few seconds. I almost felt bloated, to be honest, like I was about to release the hugest fart the world had ever beheld, but of course I didn't do anything of the sort.

"Uhh…James?" Naruto asked, looking a little concerned, "Your skin's a little bit bluish and electricity is coming out of you. Is that supposed to happen?"

I looked at myself to find that Naruto was right. My skin had turned a pale blue color, and lightning was coming off of me. "Umm…I think so…" I replied, "Anyways, Naruto, go for that hole in the center of the chestplate. That's where they're weakest; one kunai to that section and they're down for the count."

"Right!" Naruto exclaimed, "Now let's do this!!!"

On that cue, I made the hand sign and shouted, "Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu!!!" About three-thousand of me appeared out of nowhere. "Wow, didn't expect that many…" I said to myself. Then I shouted, "CHARGE!!!", and the entire army with me in the front went running towards the massive army in front of us. Naruto and his army did the same. Naruto and a few of his clones were charging up for Rasengan in the front, where my clones and I were preparing Chidori at the front. We were hoping to annihilate a good hundred – maybe thousand – of them with the front Rasengan and Chidori alone.

We kept running, running down that field towards the monster army. The monsters just kept marching at the same pace. We were about halfway to them when they suddenly stopped. We kept running, but they had simply stopped.

We were almost to them, about fifty yards away when they pulled out their swords, maces, giant cleavers, hammers, and whatever else they were armed with, and they started charging towards us at full-speed. They were scary-fast, at least double as fast as Naruto or I. I got the feeling that these guys weren't the grunts we had dealt with before – they seemed more elite.

Twenty-five yards away. Everyone was steeling themselves for the collision

Ten yards away. I held up the palm of my hand, lighted with Chidori. All of the clones that had Chidori or Rasengan did the same.

Five yards away. I couldn't think of anything but Hinata. I didn't want to die; I wanted to see her, to be able to see her beautiful eyes again, to kiss her one last time.

Two yards away. I didn't think about anything anymore except holding that Chidori and hurling it at the opponent.

One yard away. A last minute jolt of rage entered me, which prompted me to throw the Chidori with all of the force I could muster.

Collision.

**

_These guys are a lot tougher than the ones from before, _Kakashi thought to himself as he dodged a cleaver's swipe and countered with a kunai to the weak point, felling the beast. _I'm not sure if I can hold these guys for very long at all…_

Kakashi had been defending the Hokage Statue-heads for a good while now. The monsters had come a lot faster than Kakashi or the Aburame Clan had anticipated, and Kakashi was almost thrown off-guard by their speed and power. One of Kakashi's Shadow Clones threw five shuriken at a monster, and while all of them hit their marks, none of them hit any vital spot, and the monster was completely unphased. _They feel no pain, they feel nothing. What are these creatures? Where are they all coming from?_

**

A brilliant flash blinded me for the first moment. The second moment I heard and felt an earth-shattering, ear-piercing collection of screeches and explosions, topped off with short roars of pain from the monsters, then those roars suddenly silenced. The third moment I was on the floor, on my back, wondering what the hell just happened. I heard the clinks and clanks of battle from afar; it wasn't close to me at all, but still within earshot. I looked up to see that I was a good fifty yards or so from all of Naruto and I's Shadow Clones, who were battling the much larger force and trying to keep them at bay.. _I must have been hurled back from the explosion…I expect my shadow clones in front dissipated before they got blasted back too. _I got up, dusted myself off and looked around to see Naruto a few yards to the left of me on the floor. I went to him, kneeled down and said, "Hey, you okay?"

Naruto rolled over and looked up at me, surprised. He abruptly got up and said, "Yeah, I'm fine!"

"Good," I said, "Should we sit back and let the Shadow Clones do their work, or should we join them?"

"You can do whatever, but I'm fighting still!" Naruto said, and with that he ran towards the battle. I just sighed, smiling, and ran back into the battle as well. I didn't want to be shown up, nor did I want to not do anything, so I was killing two birds and many enemies with one stone.

**

Kakashi and his Shadow Clones were now beaten back to the edge. They were barely holding out, and if help didn't arrive soon, Kakashi would most likely be killed. Kakashi was still fighting at full force, nevertheless, killing many a foe in the process, but it simply wasn't enough. He had patched in for help from the ANBU, but they still hadn't come. _Now I remember why I quit the ANBU…_ Kakashi thought as he threw a shuriken perfectly at a monster's weak spot. As he kept fighting, he wondered faintly, _Why the hell do these guys have such a weak spot anyways?_

Fatigue was starting to kick in a little. No one else watching would have noticed, but Kakashi was starting to get tired. He caught himself making little mistakes here and there that shouldn't have been made; jumps became slightly more clumsy, dashes slowed slightly, and his overall thinking process was suffering. _I can't take much more of this…_he thought, _Where the hell are you, ANBU!?_

Out of nowhere, a huge gust of wind from behind Kakashi almost knocked him off balance completely. All of the monsters suddenly had huge gashes in their weak points as well as everywhere else, and all of them fell, bleeding heavily. Kakashi looked behind himself, and he was never so glad to see a Sand Village ninja before. Kankuro and Temari were back-to-back a few yards away from Kakashi. Temari held her giant fan out completely open, and Kankuro's puppet was at the ready.

"Looks like you could use some help." Temari said smugly.

**

I could tell that Naruto was getting tired quickly. I still felt like I could go all night, but Naruto's Shadow Clones had thinned greatly since the beginning of the battle compared to mine. I was beginning to worry about him. These monsters seemed endless, and they felt like they were getting faster and stronger with each monster we took out. At this rate, it seemed like both of us would lose all of our energy before the night was over.

_Kaminari, can you please give me a small, 2% dose?_

She did so, and I felt energized once again. I rushed in, kunai in both hands, jumping across from enemy to enemy and stabbing them each right in the weak spot. I felt like a monkey or something as I was bounding on top of enemies and stabbing them. I was so fast that none of them really noticed before it was too late. There was one point where I got the idiots to stab one another while trying to attack me. Not exactly the brightest breed of war machines.

Still, it felt like we were getting nowhere. We might have taken down thousands by now, but there seemed to still be just as many as when we started. Chances for mistakes on our part were becoming more apparent, and as I bounded I got stabbed in the ankle with a pike. I yelped, jumped on one foot on top of an enemy's head and bounded slightly outside of the battlefield where I had blasted myself to via Chidori prior. I looked at my ankle as blood gushed from it. The bastard made a perfect circle in my ankle that went through one side and out the other. I could have literally seen through the wound had I put my ankle up to my eye.

What amazed me more was how fast it was healing. Before my eyes, the wound got smaller and smaller until it was barely a tiny speck. _Did you do that Kaminari???_

_ "That I did."_

_ Wow…thanks! It was virtually painless too, the healing that is. The wound itself was excruciatingly painful, but not the healing!_

_ "…You're welcome."_

Despite the fact that Kaminari had given me a huge amount of energy, I was already feeling tired. I hoped that Naruto was faring better than I was, because I felt like I might collapse at any given moment. _Can I get another 2% please?_

_ "Coming right up."_

Again, I felt extremely rejuvenated, and I was ready to go back into the battle when suddenly I heard a huge THUD from the battlefield. _Oh shit…what do they have now, a behemoth of some kind? _I ran towards the thud that came from the battlefield, jumped up to get a view for a second, and found that I was never so glad to be dead wrong in my entire life. There was a massive pond of sand in the very middle of the enemy forces, and Gaara was standing in the middle of that sand, arms crossed and showing no particular emotion. He was simply standing there as the sand formed small spikes and grinded right through all of the enemy's weak points. Blood was spurting everywhere from the dying beasts, they were roaring their vocal cords out, falling one by one, hundred by hundred, thousand by thousand as Gaara stood unflinchingly in the middle of his sand pond, not even batting an eye at all of the carnage. In maybe three minutes the entire clearing was completely riddled with monster bodies, with no monster left behind.

I was amazed at Gaara's power. I thought that if I were ever to face him in battle, I would be squashed like a bug within a few seconds, even with all of Kaminari backing me up. Still, that didn't make me fear him at all; after all, he wiped out the enemy, not us. I walked up to him and said, "That was amazing!" I said as I walked up to him, "I had no idea you were so powerful! Nice going!"

Gaara just gave me that odd look again for a moment, then said, "Thanks," and walked past me.

Naruto jumped up and said, "Hey where are you going!?"

Gaara didn't turn around as he said, "Your village. They'll probably need me."

Naruto looked at me and said, "We should probably get to the village too and help Kakashi-sensei out!" I agreed, and we set off towards Konoha.


	32. Chapter 32: The Only Way

_**Chapter 32: The Only Way**_

"It's the only way." I said firmly to the others in the war room I had been in not too long ago. I had made up my mind about what I was going to do. They would just keep coming, and coming, and coming, endlessly unless I did this.

Naruto pointed at me furiously and said, "YOU'RE INSANE!!! YOU'RE GONNA GET YOURSELF KILLED!!!"

"There could be another way," Kakashi put in calmly, "You don't have to do something like this."

"There is no other way," I replied, "Thanks for the offer, but those monsters are coming because Mikaboshi is calling them here. He has an endless supply, and not even Gaara can hold all of them off without faltering. They are unlimited. They are infinite. This is the only possible way there is to end this."

"You're insane man, YOU LOST IT COMPLETELY!!!" Naruto yelled fiercely.

I knew everyone in the room thought I had lost it completely, but I hadn't. In fact, I was seeing things clearer than I had ever seen them before. I had thought this through as much as I needed. This was the only way I could protect everyone, and to make damn sure nothing like this would ever happen again. It was the only way I could protect Naruto, Kakashi, Tsunade, and most importantly, Hinata. The plan I had just proposed to them was a suicide mission to the.

"You're gonna DIE OUT THERE DAMMIT!!" Naruto yelled.

**

"There are more out there, many more." Gaara said as Naruto and I walked with him towards the village, "Kakashi should be alright; Temari and Kankuro were sent out to aid him."

"They're probably regrouped in the war room inside Hokage Mansion," I said, "How many more did you say there were Gaara?"

"Many more," Gaara replied, "Many, many more than what we just fought back there. Even I probably would not be able to hold them all off."

My eyes widened in shock. _If he doesn't think he can hold all of them off, and he easily took all of those guys out, there must be a LOT more. Double, triple what we just fought? Maybe even more?_

"I couldn't even give you an estimate on how many there were," Gaara continued, "And they weren't your average grunt either. They were more organized, had better equipment, and no weak points either. Their armor is all sealed up completely. They are faster as well; they might be here in an hour or so, and they were miles away as well."

_Well shit…what are we gonna do now?_

"Well now what!?" Naruto asked loudly, "If they don't have weak points, they're faster, they're probably stronger, they have better weapons and there's a lot more of them than what you just took care of, how the hell are we going to be able to defend ourselves!?!?"

It was then that it hit me. The monsters are Mikaboshi's creations; Mikaboshi was the one sending them here. He was the leader of this entire thing, the commanding officer of the entire army that seemed endless.

We had entered through Konoha's gates. It seemed calm, way too calm for what had been going on. I thought some more on Mikaboshi. _Mikaboshi is inside of me…he is summoning all of these monsters from inside of me, and it seems like he has a limitless supply. They'll keep coming and coming if Mikaboshi himself isn't stopped._

We entered Hokage Mansion, and went towards the war room. Bickering and yapping were heard from the direction of the war room, and when I went in there were people arguing left and right. Some said we should do this, others said we should do that. It didn't really to me what they were saying; I tried to concentrate on my own thoughts. I was trying to figure out a way to stop Mikaboshi himself.

As I thought and thought about it, the war room went silent for a moment. Then Gaara spoke, "I spotted a massive army of the monsters farther away from the clearing. They were better equipped, faster, and had no weak points, unlike the ones we have fought thus far."

Tsunade spoke, "We already know of this. The Aburame clan has supplied us with this information. We need to evacuate the village immediately."

"And go where!?" a shinobi spoke up, "They'll wipe all of us out no matter where we evacuate to!" The bickering and arguing rose again, and I isolated myself to my own thoughts.

_Kaminari, is there any way you might be able to defeat Mikaboshi in there?_

_ "Mikaboshi is sealed within your body. He cannot do any external harm himself, but nor can I touch him. It protects and imprisons him. The only way for me to destroy him is in the event that you died and he was freed from the sealing jutsu."_

_ What would be your chances of being able to kill him?_

_ "I would only be able to bring him down if I sacrificed myself as well to use my ultimate attack."_

_ …then I know what must be done…_

_ "James, do not do anything rash. There may be another way that we haven't found yet, we may be able to-"_

_ Even if there is another way, by the time we find it, it'll be too late. Konoha will have been wiped out, everyone would have been hunted down and killed, and it would all have been for nothing. We don't have time to find another way. This is the only option I have. This is the only way._

_ "…you are correct…I suppose by the time we found another way, it would most likely be too late"_

_ And I don't want Hinata or anyone else dying because we were trying to look for another way. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I let that happen._

_ "…you are suggesting suicide?"_

_ Mmm…in a way, I suppose it is suicide. But, I don't want to just stab myself with a sword. I wanna go out with a bang._

_ "And how do you suppose you will do that?"_

_ You'll see…_

Everyone was still arguing over where to relocate or whether or not to stand our ground, and everything like that when I stood up and boomed, "EVERYONE BE QUIET FOR A DAMN MINUTE AND HEAR ME OUT!!!" Everyone looked at me and was silent. I leaned on the table with my palms and began, "People, what is the cause of these monsters coming to get us?" I paused for a moment, but when I saw blank stares I continued, "It is Mikaboshi. He is the leader of the entire monster's army. So logically, if we destroy Mikaboshi, the army will fall, correct?" More blank stares and a couple of nods. "So the goal is clear, we destroy Mikaboshi. But how? Everyone knows that Mikaboshi is inside of me, and it has been sealed. Nothing can touch Mikaboshi, and Mikaboshi can't touch anyone, but he can still call his monsters on us to wipe us out completely."

"This is what it comes down to. Mikaboshi is sealed inside me with a jutsu so powerful that it only will be broken in the event of my death. Only then will Mikaboshi be exposed, and only then will Kaminari be able to destroy him. Only then will the monsters stop, and only then will we all be saved."

"You're suggesting suicide." Kakashi said. It wasn't a question.

I looked at Choza, Choji's father, and said, "This is my plan. I'm going to go out there, and unleash every last bit of chakra I've got to kill those monsters coming for us at this moment. Choza, if it is alright with you, I would like to use your clan's Three Colored Pills for my assault. I'm going in alone."

Everyone was shocked. No one knew what to say to this.

I continued, "The only way Mikaboshi can be stopped is if I die, right? That's the only way the monsters will end, it's the only way you guys'll survive." Everyone looked at me like I had gone completely insane.

"It's the only way." I said firmly to everyone in the war room I had been in not too long ago. I had made up my mind about what I was going to do. They would just keep coming, and coming, and coming, endlessly unless I did this.

Naruto pointed at me furiously and said, "YOU'RE INSANE!!! YOU'RE GONNA GET YOURSELF KILLED!!!"

"There could be another way," Kakashi put in calmly, "You don't have to do something like this."

"There is no other way," I replied, "Thanks for the offer, but those monsters are coming because Mikaboshi is calling them here. He has an endless supply, and not even Gaara can hold all of them off without faltering. They are unlimited. They are infinite. This is the only possible way there is to end this."

"You're insane man, YOU LOST IT COMPLETELY!!!" Naruto yelled fiercely.

I knew everyone in the room thought I had lost it completely, but I hadn't. In fact, I was seeing things clearer than I had ever seen them before. I had thought this through as much as I needed. This was the only way I could protect everyone, and to make damn sure nothing like this would ever happen again. It was the only way I could protect Naruto, Kakashi, Tsunade, and most importantly, Hinata. The plan I had just proposed to them was a suicide mission to the.

"You're gonna DIE OUT THERE DAMMIT!!" Naruto yelled.

"That's the idea," I replied. Naruto looked furious, but he was at a loss for words.

Choza looked up at me, took out a case of the Three Colored Pills, and threw the case to me. I caught it in mid-air, looked at the Green, Yellow and Red pills, pocketed them and said, "It's been nice knowing you all." I then left the war room without a word, pills in pocket, ready for the end.

I walked outside of Hokage Mansion and looked around the village. _I'm gonna miss you guys…all of you…_ I got choked up for a little bit, but I forced it down and started walking toward the main gate. Walking to my death.

I was almost at the gate when I heard someone yelling, "JAMES, WAIT!!!" I turned around and saw Sakura running to me as fast as her feet could carry her.

"Sakura, I-" was all I could get out before she mauled me with a hug, sobbing on my shoulder, saying, "I heard it all from Tsunade…don't go James…please don't go…you don't have to do this…there has to be another way…"

All of this sudden emotion came flooding through me, and I started feeling tears coming down my face. I took her off my shoulder, set her in front of me, held her shoulders and looked her dead in the eye, trying so hard but failing to not cry. I told her, "Sakura, you were the one who saved my life in the beginning. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't be here right now. You've always been my closest friend in Konoha; I shared all of my secrets willingly to you. I told you everything that I ever felt, all of my hopes and dreams for the future. But it's come down to this. I have to do this, Sakura. I know it's hard for you; it's hard for me too, but I…I have to do this. You saved me once. Allow me to return the favor."

"B-but there could be another way…" Sakura said, sobbing.

"There could be," I replied emotionally, "But by the time anyone finds that way, we'll all be dead. This is the only way…I'm sorry Sakura." I started crying again as I said, "You were always like a sister to me. I always loved you as a sister, and I always will." I hugged her as I said to her, "I'm sorry it has to be this way. I wish it didn't, but it has to be." We hugged for a little bit, then let go. We were both pretty much crying, but I had managed a few seconds later to gain some control over myself.

"Could you do me one favor?" I asked Sakura.

"What?"

"Please…tell Hinata that I love her with all of my heart, and that I always will."

"Why can't you do that yourself?" she asked, sniffling a little.

"If I saw her again, I don't think I could bring myself to do this. I don't want to see her, because I love her and because I want to save her. I don't k-know if that makes any sense, but-"

Sakura nodded, still half crying, and said, "I understand…I'll tell her…"

"Thank you," I said to her. I had pretty much gained control completely when I said, "I love you Sakura. Goodbye." I walked to the main gate, slipped through, and ran down the path, heading to the monsters.


	33. Chapter 33: The Final Battle

_**Chapter 33 – The Final Battle**_

I ran until I had finally arrived at the army. I had gotten a strange sense of déjà vu, and dismissed it as me simply remembering the last battle. The army went as far as the eye could see, from left to right, there seemed to be no end. No, there WAS no end.

_This is it Kaminari. Ready?_

_ "…It is time to end this, I am ready."_

_ Flow as much power in me as you can._

_ "Very well."_

A surge of energy like I'd never felt before raced through my entire body. Every muscle was now intensified, sparks were flying off my body constantly, and the advancing army seemed to move slower than usual. "SHADOWCLONE JUSTU!!!" I yelled, making the hand sign. So many shadow clones of me appeared, I don't know how many, but there were a hell of a lot of them.

I took out the Three Colored Pills that Choza gave me. I popped the Green Pill in my mouth and swallowed. Energy surged through me again; I almost felt like I was gonna explode. I diffused the energy a bit by summoning more shadow clones. Same process applied with the Yellow, only I supplied even more shadow clones than before. By now my army looked about as big as the one right in front of me. Every one of us were surging with electrical currents, emitting sparks all over the place.

"THERE IS NO TURNING BACK!!!" I yelled. I readied my Chidori with my right hand, as did all of the others. I ate the Red Pill, and the surges of energy I gained from that made me feel almost inhuman. Immediately I yelled, "CHAAAARGE!!!!!" and dashed in with my now oversized Chidori. The rest, with their Chidori, ran in yelling.

This time when army connected with army, I didn't get blown back with my own energy. I blasted and disintegrated a massive portion of the army in front of me, as did all of the others. And I kept charging in. Everything I touched seemed to immediately disintegrate; it was like I had a Chidori Flamethrower coming from hands. I was just plowing through the army, Chidori Flame-throwing everything in my path. I still had plenty of energy. All of my shadow clones seemed to have the same idea as well; they were doing the same thing.

There were a lot more than I thought there were of the monsters. At this point I had lost control of what jutsu I was doing; I was doing what my instincts told me to. For all I know, I could have pulled the ultimate lightning attack on those guys and not even known it. I was throwing lightning left and right before anyone could even get near me, and my clones were doing the same. Chidori here, Lightning Ball there, Chidori over there, Lightning Shock over there, it was endless.

I felt myself start to get a little fatigued, though not too bad. Kaminari said, "_Here, have this." _Just like that, Kaminari's Spear appeared in my hands. I felt a strong electrical current in it, and I stabbed the monster closest to me. He immediately shocked, burned and disintegrated. I waved the spear around in a huge circle, completely obliterating everything in its radius. I felt like nothing could touch me.

I was about halfway through my energy, and the army just kept coming and coming. I figured a huge, final blast would do the trick. "OI!!!" I yelled to my shadow clones, "CONCENTRATE ALL OF YOUR REMAINING ENERGY INTO ONE FINAL CHIDORI!!! WE'LL COMBINE ALL OF THEM TO MAKE ONE FINAL BLAST!!!" All of us backed off of the monsters and regrouped a few meters away from the army. I poured all of my energy into this one ball of Chidori, as did everyone else. As soon as we were done pouring the massive amounts of energy, we all came together and combined our Chidori into one final blast. A massive, blue and white light filled the entire area, and what sounded like birds were screeching so loud that my ears hurt extremely badly, and the massive blast tore me away from the battlefield completely. I seemed like I was flying; I was still being blasted away from the entire battle. I could see my shadow clones growing smaller and smaller as I got farther and farther away, and I saw them disappear one by one until there was none of them left.

I hit a tree hard in mid air and landed on the ground face-first.

I could feel all of my energy draining away from me rapidly. I had poured everything I had into that last blast. I couldn't feel any of my body at all, and I had almost absolutely no energy or chakra left. The only energy I had left was used to get my head up to look and see the damage I had done to the army.

The army wasn't there anymore. The monsters and the shadow clones were completely gone. They were all no more.

I couldn't hold my head up anymore, and it fell on the ground. Energy was still being sapped away from me quickly; I was having trouble breathing now. Sharp pain carved through every single nerve in my body, but I was barely able to feel it anyways. I was slightly falling in and out of consciousness now. Everything got brighter, then darker, then brighter again, then darker again, alternating like that for a while.

_So…this is what it's like to die…well I'm prepared…I'm ready…I'm okay…with it…_

I couldn't think straight anymore. The bright and dark alternating was growing more intense, and I was dizzy, light headed, and I couldn't do a thing. I couldn't move a muscle except for my eyes, which I closed.

My last thoughts that day were faintly of Hinata.

I fell.


	34. Epilogue and Preview for Book Two

_**Epilogue**_

All of the shinobi of Konoha were dressed in black. There wasn't such a large turnout for a funeral since the Third Hokage passed away. As the crowd looked in admiration and grief at the coffin containing a hero's body, Naruto pushed and shoved his way through the crowd to get to the front. He finally got to the front and spotted the coffin. _Damn you…_ he thought, _Damn you so much…I told you not to do it…I told you not to…but you did anyways…and you saved all of us…damn you…why did you have to die!?_

Naruto spotted Sakura a little ways away, crying. He went and tried to comfort her, but she didn't want any of it. She just wanted to be left alone, and for the first time, Naruto did. This was different than most occasions where he would try and force his way in to cheer her up.

Naruto saw it all from a long ways away. He saw the huge Chidori blast; he saw the tiny speck of a person from his point of view being blasted away and being hit by a tree. He saw every last one of the monsters and the shadow clones disappear before his very eyes. He saw the blue orb and the red orb coming out from his body, clashing with each other and making huge flashes. They were undoubtedly Kaminari and Mikaboshi battling it out. He saw the massive explosion they made in mid-air, and he saw them both disappear as well. He'd seen it all. Naruto would have been there to help him too if Kakashi hadn't held him back.

Now the village was safe. The Aburame Clan had reported that there was not a monster to be found, and many reported seeing them evaporate into red smoke after the massive explosion Kaminari made to kill Mikaboshi.

The funeral speaker made many last words about the hero. How he gallantly saved us all, how he sacrificed himself for the good of the village, how he would be getting a special place in a morgue called the Hall of Honors. Naruto thought it was overblown, but he DID save all of them, so he wasn't going to complain too badly about it.

After the funeral, the arrangements were made final to have him set in the Hall of Honors. You didn't bury anyone in the Hall of Honors; it was guarded very closely by well-trained guards that looked after it. The coffins were placed on stone pedestals, the body was preserved with a special jutsu, and it was made sure that no grave robbers could get in. He and his coffin were put in, and that was that.

For a little bit things seemed more bleak than usual, but after a while things took their natural course. Naruto, Sakura and the rest of them were doing their missions just as they had before, the workers began repairs on the damages done, and Ichiraku's was still in business, with Naruto as its top customer. Everything was normal, until sometime later when something no one expected to happen in anyone's wildest dreams came to pass…

**

I felt like I opened my eyes, but I wasn't certain because all I was seeing was black. Darkness, that's it. Dazed would be the first thing that came to mind if you were to describe my mental state. I couldn't move my body at all except for the tips of my fingers and my head for a while. It felt like I was laying down on something, and whatever I was laying down on was very comfy.

_Where am I?_ That was the first thing I wanted to know, though frankly, I couldn't exactly find that out when my entire body was out of order. So I tried thinking of the last thing I could remember.

_Let's see…I battled that army with Naruto, and Gaara came to save us both…I went back to the war room…and I…I…wait…oh no…this isn't good!!! WHY AM I NOT DEAD!?!?!? Wait…am I dead? Is this what death is? Just a blackness that no one can escape from? If I'm not dead, that must mean Kaminari is still around, right? Kaminari, can you hear me!?_

No response.

_KAMINARI THIS ISN'T FUNNY!!!_

No response.

_She's not here…so, am I dead or what?_ I realized that while taking the time to think, I was now able to move most of my hand and a small portion of my legs. _Seems like with time, I'll be able to move right again. Then I can find out where the hell I am. Heh, that's ironic, I could be in hell and not even know it._

I don't know how long I waited, but after a long while I was finally able to move my arms around freely. Well, as freely as they could. I tried swinging them around only to find I was trapped in some sort of barrier. I decided to get some light going to see where I was, so I concentrated my chakra to the tip of my index finger, making it glow enough that it lit the surrounding area. I looked around, and as soon as I realized where I was, I had a Class A freak out session.

I realized that I was inside a coffin.

After a while I'd managed to calm myself down a bit. _Okay James…calm…calm…I'm inside a coffin…have I been buried!?!? How am I still alive!? It doesn't make any sense! …calm down, calm down…I have to find a way out of here…_ I tried pounding on the top of the coffin to break it down, but my arms had no room, and my attempt was poor. _Okay, screw this!_ I made the hand sign and said, "Lightning Paralysis Jutsu!!!" My hands glowed with lightning, and I broke a big hole through the top, revealing that I was in some sort of cave. I climbed out of the coffin, landed on the floor and stumbled because my legs weren't ready yet. Thankfully I caught myself before I hit the stone floor face-first. I couldn't stand up, so I kinda half laid down while looking at where I was.

It looked like I was in some kind of tomb. The walls, floors, ceiling, and everything else seemed to be made of the exact same type of stone; a grayish rock that cast a gloomy outlook on this place.

"Who goes there!?!?" I heard someone shout. Two guards came into the room, and I had no idea what to do. "Grave robber, huh? Not on my watch!" He took out two tonfa and was at the ready with them.

"Whoa whoa, wait a sec!" I said to them, "I'm no grave robber! I just…came out from there…" I pointed to the coffin that I had blasted myself out of.

"Yeah, right. The dead don't rise, boy." The other guard said, "Now where is your accomplice that took the body out?"

"A-accomplice!?!?" I said, infuriated, "Look at me!!! I'm James!!! Remember? James Moretto!!!"

The two guards both looked at each other and laughed. "Boy…" a guard said in the middle of laughing, "James had been dead for some time now…hahaha…and besides…hehe…you don't even look like him at all!"

"Whadaya mean I don't-!" I stopped myself just in time to realize something. I had longer hair…a lot longer hair. It came down to my lower back, whereas before it barely covered all of my neck. I scratched my chin without even thinking about it, and discovered that I had a pretty good beard going too. My eyes widened in shock. _No wonder they don't buy it…I probably don't look anything like how I looked before! How long have I been in that coffin anyways?_ I reasoned that there was probably no way I could possibly talk myself out of this one, and I didn't want to hurt anyone, so I simply held my hands out and said, "Okay, take me wherever you guys want…" in a gloomy, defeated voice.

"Not until you tell us where your accomplice is." One of the guards said.

I snapped. "GODDAMMIT I HAVE NO ACCOMPLICE!!! I AM THE BODY!!! I DON'T KNOW WHAT HAPPENED, BUT I-" Before I could finish what I was saying, one of the guards hit me on the head hard enough to almost knock me out. I fell to the floor, and I thought my head may have been bleeding.

"How dare you attempt to steal the great James' body." One of the guards said in disgust. He picked me up, put my hands behind my back, bound them and said, "Do you know what the penalty is for attempting to raid the Hall of Honors?"

I dully thought of a few wisecracks I might have thrown at him, but decided not to and instead said, "I'm going to guess death?"

"That's right, boy," he said, "Not only death, death by public hanging."

"I didn't even realize that Konoha had that punishment." I dully said.

"That's because it hasn't had to be used for a very, very long time. Maybe a good twenty years or so when the last person tried to come and rob a grave from the Hall of Honors."

I had no idea what to do, so I figured I would just go with it. _Soon enough, someone'll recognize me passing by or something, I might get lucky and be spotted by Tsunade or something. I doubt I'm going to get hanged in the end, I mean by the time the arrangements are made and such, someone would have seen me…right?_

The guards walked me outside of the Hall of Honors, and I had to squint my eyes because it was so bright. We walked down the street, and went through the main gate. I tried spotting people I might recognize, but to no avail. We walked through a forest path I had never taken before, and eventually came across a building I'd never seen before. We entered the building, and as soon as I saw the cells I realized it was a jail. The guards led me up to a cell, threw me in, closed and locked it up. "Don't bother trying to use Ninjutsu or Genjutsu here, boy," one of the guards said, "They don't work here. A special barrier has been erected to prevent the use of them."

I sat on the crappy bed supplied, not knowing what to do. All of my bodily functions hit at the same time, so I went pee and crap a lot that day.

At one point I asked the person in the cell across from me, "Hey, do you know about James Moretto?"

The guy looked at me and said, "Well duh. He's the one that wiped out all of the monsters a while ago."

"How long ago did he do that?"

"mmm…I think it's been about a year and a half now."


End file.
